When over 270 schoolgirls were kidnapped in Chibok, Borno State, over six weeks ago from their school dormitories, Nigerians were still coming to terms with the heinous Nyanya bomb blast which killed over 70 people and left several others injured. At first, it appeared as if the kidnap would be one of those things to be swept under the carpet. But the sheer number of the missing girls was too much to go unnoticed. While the government appeared hesitant and even in denial, the mainstream media kept the issue in the public sphere. Social media was also agog with citizen journalism and soon a campaign emerged.
It was Ibrahim Musa Abdullah who first tweeted the hash-tag #bringbackourgirls. That singular tweet has now metamorphosed into movements, activism and a global campaign that has seen respected celebrities, world leaders and activists join the campaign to rescue the girls. In fact, the first lady of the United States, Michele Obama, took the unorthodox step of delivering the weekly presidential address in place of her husband. This decision showed how seriously the world took the issue. Yet our government remained in denial until global pressure began to mount.
The hashtag #bringbackourgirls is a revolution. Not only has it attracted the world’s attention and brought us the necessary help that we need to rescue the girls, it has brought Nigerians and the world together in one voice. The world hasn’t seen anything like this since the death of Nelson Mandela, former South African president. The Chibok girls have a strong spirit. In a region where millions of their mates are out of school, they chose to get an education despite the general nonchalance to girl-child education, notwithstanding girl-child education being one of the MDGs.
The spirit of the Chibok girls is strong and they have good fortune too, else, how did their plight catch global attention when our own government didn’t care? I urge the girls wherever they are to remain strong before help by the US, UK, France, China and Israel pays off. Social media retains the tendency to mischief that has brought its credibility under question, yet, one can only imagine what would have been if the social media had been numb in this particular case. At this point Nigerian authorities must jettison its idea of censoring social media as was recently mooted in some quarters.
Now that international community has come to join the search and rescue, we pray that the girls are found and returned to their distraught parents and loved ones. The doubt which slowed government’s action to search and rescue the girls immediately should be a lesson to the authorities to be more decisive. If they had been swift, they would have either been able to rescue or prove their doubts. For now let the true search and rescue begin. As the implication of this could have dire consequences and far reaching implication on the future of the girl child education not only in the north eastern Nigeria but across the entire north and Nigeria at large.
Saratu Muhammad,
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida
University, Lapai, Niger State