Missing Chibok Girls 43 Days After

It’s heart rendering that the teenage girls abducted from Government, Chibok, Borno State, have been away for this long, their whereabouts unknown. It is even more pathetic that the wide condemnation of the abduction has not persuaded the hostage- takers to release them. What is very glaring at this stage is that Boko Haram, the self-confessed crusaders fighting God’s battles are out to truncate what was a bourgeoning future for the girls. Indeed, the extremists, for the last 43 days that they have held the girls, apart from the other carnage they have wrought, appear to be winning.

Not many Nigerians believed that the girls were going to be held for this long. Optimists believed that the military was going to rise to the occasion, given that Boko Haram had hurt the very essential part of the nation’s future – her children. Disappointingly, it will appear that the blatant taking of the girls hostage has exposed the capacity of the armed forces and other security groups in Nigeria to protect the citizens.

The officers on the field and at the Defence Headquarters appear to be talking too much. The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh and his subordinates are always reeling out information that should be the exclusive preserve of their men. Take, for example, the latest news that the girls have been located but measures are being adopted to free them. This is a great defensive error of judgment. It shows that the CDS who dished out the information to a group of protesters in Abuja does not understand that Nigerians simply want the girls home, hale and hearty not political statements. If he thinks that can assuage our feeling, he has, again, failed. Military tactics rather than propaganda tools should be deployed to bring back the girls.

Much as the military tries to do its best with the resources at its disposal, we call on other concerned agencies to rise to the need by providing support to the parents of the missing girls. We understand the trauma they must be going through now. These people require some physical and psychological support to bear the shock. If we don’t do this, we may be failing in our responsibilities as our neighbours’ keepers just as the government and the military have failed to protect its citizens from a band of extremists.

Efforts should also be geared towards preparing for the rehabilitation of the girls, when they are found and returned home. Now that the security people are sighting the students, concerned organizations, individuals and donor agencies must put structures in place to help the young girls resettle and re-absorbed into the society. Programmes such as counselling, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, psychological rehabilitation, educational coaching and even financial support must be adequately put in place to ensure that in case they are freed, they don’t walk into an uncaring society. It is time to channel the energies expended in the social media protests into actual help for the girls, when they arrive home.