‘Reintegration of Chibok girls into society will take a while’d

How will UNFPA help the released Chibok girls reintegrate into the society? As you are aware, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) support was for the initial 24 Chibok girls that were released, 21, plus three; and now 82 girls have also been released. They are under the safekeeping of the Federal Ministry of Women […]

How will UNFPA help the released Chibok girls reintegrate into the society?

As you are aware, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) support was for the initial 24 Chibok girls that were released, 21, plus three; and now 82 girls have also been released. They are under the safekeeping of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs. UNFPA received a request from the ministry on certain specific areas that UNFPA has comparative advantage: these include physical rehabilitation, medical rehabilitation, psychosocial rehabilitation, as well as livelihood support.

Basically, the physical rehabilitation is to provide the girls with their personal effects needs, which include culturally appropriate dressing and other clothing materials. In terms of medical support, some of the girls have had series of medical treatment where they went through medical screening and diagnosis, and they were all treated.

In terms of psychosocial support, they have had serious psychosocial trauma as such they all needed counselling. They have lost basically their childhood, missed three years of adolescence and had gone through violence: sexual, physical and emotional. And, they needed psychosocial rehabilitation.

In terms of nutrition, many of them were malnourished; they need some balanced diet to get them back to normalcy. They also need a shelter where they can stay and be looked after. Government is providing that.

The girls were asked whether they wanted to go back to school, formal education, or they wanted to follow a vocational training track. They divided themselves into two groups. For those that decided to pursue formal education, teachers were recruited to actually fast-track their preparation for JAMB because they were kidnapped as they were about to write their JAMB, so that they can proceed to university.

Those that wanted vocational training, many of them chose to be trained as psychotherapists; some of them are undertaking ICT training. So, these are the different forms of training they are offered so that they can prepare for their future in establishing small businesses or get jobs when they get themselves integrated back into their communities.

In which area do you think the Nigerian government needs to improve its services for the girls?

The government is providing all the support to all the girls, special attention is given to these girls, thanks to Senator Aisha Alhassan, the Hon. Minister of Women Affairs. She has been marvelous in this regard. Her support has been really tremendous. In terms of medical care, they all went through some sort of medical assessment to identify the medical issues that they had. And some of them had very serious medical challenges that required surgical operation. The government is taking care of that. I absolutely believe they have been receiving appropriate medical attention.

Have you had access to the 82 Chibok girls that were released recently?

     I had a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Women Affairs, that was last week, and they were still undergoing medical assessment at that point in time. We in UNFPA have not been able to see them because they said the girls were undergoing medical assessment because they had similar medical cases as with the previous 24. We are hopeful that once the assessment is done, the necessary training is given, then they will go to where they are supposed to live and that they will take a similar nine-month rehabilitation programme as the previous 24 girls.

Have you any fear over the girls’ reintegration into the society, given the trauma and other inhuman treatments the girls faced in the hands of their captors?

     There are concerns about their reintegration because it raises stigma within their communities. When some of the girls who have children were asked whether they wanted to go back to Chibok, they said even if they were going, they would not take their children along. Probably the reason is they feel that they will not be accepted if they go with children. So, they feel stigmatised.

     UNFPA provides a three-pronged approach: survival-based approach which we are doing, ensuring the survivors of this type of violence receive the necessary rehabilitation. But, we are also keen to ensure there is human rights-based approach to it: that the human rights principles are respected as this is happening. The last approach is community-based approach, which is ensuring the community accepts them for their easy integration, and that they can be reintegrated back into the community. This may take a bit longer, but the immediate support is ongoing.

We need a long-term strategy: how to work with traditional and religious leaders, together with families and the entire community to accept them when they get back to their original towns and villages.

Abduction of these girls has been highly politicised. There are Nigerians who say it was a ploy to oust the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan by the present political party in power at the federal level.

From what you have seen in the past few weeks in the girls, are you convinced they were truly abducted by terrorists?

 I think when something happens like this, there is a lot of speculation. But the truth is that these girls went through violence. Their rights have been violated. They are violated physically, emotionally and sexually. They have been traumatised. They lost part of their childhood, being under captivity and treated as slaves.

A recent video showed the remaining girls claiming they would not come back, saying emphatically that they were satisfied staying with the terrorists. How do you see this scenario?

I haven’t heard that. That can be just speculation. But if the girls happen to be doing that: refusing to come home, it means that they have been radicalised. And it will mean taking the same approach we take to someone who is radicalised by extremists.

How do you see the shielding of the girls from the public, especially their relatives, by security officials: is it not infringing on their rights?

Certainly, UNFPA is following up but that concern is cleared by the honourable minister that the girls do have visitations from their parents and they themselves do go home to Chibok for visits, while rehabilitating them. Remember that one of the approaches is human rights-based. UNFPA’s approach has been followed, making sure that they have access to health care.

It is their right to have access to health care; it is their right to have access to education. It is their right to have access to food, psychosocial support; all of these are their rights. It is also their right to have security and protection from the state. But for the moment, I’m hopeful that the government is doing all it can in doing this the right way.

We know that kidnap of the Chibok girls has been symbolic, but there are other thousands of girls and women that have undergone the same abduction and its consequential inhuman treatments. Is UNFPA expanding its services to some of these other group of people that were released?

     In fact, before the release of the Chibok girls, UNFPA had been doing some humanitarian works in the north-east, and continues to do the work: the rehabilitation of other girls and women who went through similar trauma and were released. We believe that these girls should receive equal treatment in terms of having different sources of rehabilitation, including psychosocial, medical and physical, and livelihood support. We do have programmes in the north-east that provide these services for those who were released and were not in Chibok.

How worried is the UNFPA about the use of these girls as suicide bombers?

We condemn such inhuman act. The situation is pathetic because we have seen some children being used as suicide bombers, not necessarily those kidnapped and released. That is why the situation in the northe-east still remains volatile. It doesn’t necessarily involve those who have been kidnapped and released, but we have seen cases where children, they could be girls or boys and even women, that are being used as suicide bombers. So, it is a concern to us because it is a security issue.