Since the news broke, the nation has been in a frenzy over
the kidnapping of schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State. On the 14th of
April 2014 Islamic militants suspected to be members of the terrorist group
Boko Haram, broke into the Government College Chibok and kidnapped well over
200 girls who were in the process of writing their final year exams.
Over the course of the almost three weeks between then and
now, there have been several different reports on the case, and rather than
nearing resolution, the case just gets even more befuddling with each new
report.
At the weekend of 4th May, roughly 18 days after
the girls were taken, we got our first official response from the federal
government on the issue, not by means of a national address or communicae, but
by passing reference to the case in the President’s media chat, and commentary
by the Presidential Spokesperson on a reported declaration by the US Secretary
of State to help bring the girls home.
This Day newspaper reported that the US Secretary of State
gave a speech in Ethiopia, in which he mentioned that the US had not been
hitherto involved in the case, but was pledging their support to help bring the
girls home and that this effort would commence in the days following his
speech. Only on the heels of this speech did we get our first insight into the
stance of the presidency, and indeed what has been done so far to bring the
girls home.
While I am still pondering over that, there is a
presidential media chat on the evening of the same day, and while I don’t usually
subject myself to the torture, I had to watch this one, because of course the
nation’s most burning issue had to be addressed, right? Well 3 or so minutes to
the end of the interview one of the media men finally addresses the elephant in
the room. I’ll get to his answer in a minute…
A number of burning questions have been raised by the whole
social media frenzy and preponderance of unsubstantiated reports, mainly due to
a lack of communication by government. So much so that some people have
wondered if there ever was really a kidnapping? Was this just another ruse to
distract us from the abysmal state of affairs in the nation?
Here are some of the questions raised, and the answers I
have gleaned, between the newspaper report and the media chat. Mind you, I am
not promising you satisfactory answers, just the answers that exist.
Q1 How are there close to 300 girls in an
exam year in a Government Secondary School in Chibok, northern Nigeria?
A All the final year students in the
Chibok area had been relocated to the Government College to take their exams.
WAEC had requested that all exam centres in the North-East be relocated to the
state capitals to afford greater security, and also because they had lost some
staff before in accidents while trying to reach the rural exam centres. The
Borno state governor responded in writing, stating that he would provide
adequate security for the schools. Subsequently about 530 students, 395 male and
135 female were registered at the Chibok exam centre, being students of that
school and several other schools in the area. Boarding facilities were only
available to the female students.
Q2 Did the Borno State government give the
parents of the abducted girls a sum of money? If so, what was this money meant
for?
A This report is unsubstantiated. The
girls have not been declared dead. Indeed the search for them has not even
commenced! It is very premature to be offering compensation to the parents now-
not that it would help in any case. It would be irresponsible of any government
to do this.
Q3 Why is it impossible to determine the
exact number of girls missing?
A There was a mix of girls from
various schools in the boarding facility. Some of the girls registered for the
exams at the school may have chosen not to board at the school, and some of the
girls were reported to have escaped from their kidnappers earlier on in the case
and are now with their parents. All of these make it hard to put an exact
number to it.
My personal opinion though is that
if the authorities cared enough, a simple case of deductions would bring us to
that number. We have the total number of girls registered for the exams. The
school should have a total number of girls that decided to board for the exams
and were therefore present in the school that night. The school can and should
contact every parent that had a child in the school that night to determine
whether or not their child was one of the ones who managed to escape. A little
Arithmetic manipulation and we have a number! But of course we don’t have a
number because only the first variable seems to be certain!
Q4 Three weeks after the kidnap, our
president vows in a nationally televised media chat, to bring the girls back
home, if only the parents would cooperate and give the police information about
the missing girls- pictures and names and the like (that's his response to the media man who broached the subject). ???
A Errr, First of all- why are their
names and pictures essential to them launching a rescue attempt? We are talking
about over 200 girls abducted en-masse! Are you going stop each girl you find
and search through a database of 200+ pictures? As far as we know the girls are
still together in groups, and in one place up until last week!
Secondly- the girls were writing
their final exams, organized by a national body- WAEC. I think it is safe to
assume that WAEC would have a list of names and indeed passport photographs of
every girl that was registered for the exam at that school. Indeed the WAEC
boss has indicated that they DO have those details.
Third, was there actually a
structured avenue set up for the parents/guardians to provide information,
assuming that was necessary? Were they just supposed to go to the nearest neighborhood
police station and hope that information would get passed along until it
reaches the right person; or were they supposed to fly to Abuja and drive up to
Aso Rock or to the Police IG’s office and demand audience?
Q5 Why has it taken 3 weeks to get any
word from the Presidency on this?
A Your guess is as good as mine.
World over it is a known fact that
the first 72 hours after a kidnapping are the most vital to the possibility of
a successful rescue- I’ve watched enough TV and read enough books to know this
for a fact. After this the trail grows progressively colder. Now in this case,
up to two weeks after the kidnapping, reports were still coming in of sightings
of the girls within a certain area. First there were reports they were moved
from one bush location to another, and then they were reported to have crossed
the border towns into Chad and Cameroon in smaller groups. The chances of retrieving
ALL the girls are getting slimmer. The chances of retrieving them undamaged are
now non-existent.
Hurry up with those pictures
already people!
Q6 What is the stance of our first lady in
all this?
A Well on Friday night, 2.5weeks after
the abduction, she holds a meeting with stakeholders and at the end of it
issues an ultimatum to the Borno State government to bring the girls back or
else she will march to Borno government house- I’m sure the governor is shaking
in his shoes now and rushing to get them this minute. She says they might as
well kidnap her too if they don’t bring the girls back. Hmmm
I have just watched a youtube
video of part of that meeting- the dame is sitting on her throne pointing
fingers, shaking her fist and tongue-lashing various people for their part in
this fiasco, then in a scene Nollywood would be proud of, she reminds everybody
that we are all accountable to God- at least I think that’s what she’s doing-
and then takes up her spotless handkerchief and promptly bursts into tears,
accompanied by loud wailing and sniffing, after the handkerchief goes over her
face.
I’m exhausted
now, and despondent. My 7th question was going to be why is everyone
pleading with the US and the international community to come save our girls? It’s
not like our government (who have the primary responsibility) have tried and
failed.
People are chastising the
international community for keeping quiet in the face of this disaster; given
the reactions to the recent disasters- the case of the disappearing plane and
the unfortunate drowning of South Korean kids when their ferry capsized. I don’t
think these situations are similar- Flight Mh370 had citizens of several
different countries on it, took off from one country headed to another, and
came down supposedly in the waters of yet another. It truly is an international
disaster involving many nations, and even in this international case, the
primary country of concern led the search first, before the other nations took
over.
Our situation
could and should have been managed by our government. I’m sure the world expected
it to have been dealt with swiftly and decisively, given that over 200 young
girls were involved, they were minding their business when it happened, and
throughout this fiasco people have known exactly where those girls were to a
good level of accuracy, and they have shared that knowledge publicly. So much
so that some distraught parents attempted to launch their own ill-equipped rescue
bid. An ill-advised course of action, but action all the same!
At this point
though, knowing all of this and still convinced that it is our responsibility, I
am forced to add my voice to the plea for international assistance, because at
least then we would be doing something while there’s still a chance of getting
most if not all of the girls back. Please, come help BRINGBACKOURGIRLS!!!
