The hope that practically all the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamists in 2014 could ultimately breathe the air of freedom was renewed last Saturday when 82 of them were released. The outcome of the joint effort by the Federal Government, the government of Switzerland, the International Committee of the Red Cross and private negotiators means that over 160 of the girls have now regained their freedom. The girls, who had spent over three years in Boko Haram’s captivity, were freed in exchange for some Boko Haram commanders. The government should intensify efforts to free the remaining girls.
Boko Haram extremists abducted 276 girls from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, on April 14, 2014, while they were preparing for their senior school certificate examinations. The then Goodluck Jonathan administration treated the incident flippantly, but 57 of the girls escaped that night when a truck conveying them broke down. The others were subjected to a life of torment by the Islamists. Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, once boasted that he would marry off some of the girls and sell the others.
However, Amina Nkeki was found wandering and rescued in May 2016 by Nigerian troops, just as another girl was rescued thereafter; but it was the release of 21 girls in October 2016 that kept hope alive. The 82 girls were released near the Nigerian border with Cameroon on Saturday before they were flown to Abuja to meet with government officials.
Boko Haram has killed about 100,000 Nigerians, particularly in the North-East, according to Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State. The insurgency has displaced more than 2 million people internally. Bloodshed, suicide bombings, robbery and kidnapping by the terrorists were the order of the day under the Jonathan administration, which was forced to declare a state of emergency in the three states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe in 2014. Yet, this failed to degrade the terrorists.
This informed President Muhammadu Buhari’s avowal in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2015 to do everything possible to free the girls and end the insurgency. As a result, the military, with support from the United States, Britain, Israel, Australia and France, were beefed up to fight Boko Haram, which began its crusade in 2009. The military re-conquered lost territory in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states and made inroads into the Sambisa forest, the enclave of the terrorists.
Yet, no progress was achieved in attempts to free the Chibok girls. Their abduction had generated global outrage, with the then British Prime Minister, David Cameron; former US First Lady Michelle Obama; Pakistani girls’ education campaigner, Malala Yousafzai; and global media outlets like CNN, sensitising the world to the plight of the lost teenage girls. At home, activists founded the #BringBackOurGirls movement and mounted pressure on the erstwhile Jonathan government and later, on the Buhari administration to free the girls.
The pressure and the military campaign paid off in October 2016 when 21 of the girls were freed. Now, 82 more have been added to the list. As expected, the girls have been brutalised and traumatised. Some of their parents have died while waiting for their return. Two of the newly-released girls are injured. It has also emerged that some of the girls refused to leave their Boko Haram captors, who had apparently indoctrinated them.
The immediate task before the government is the rehabilitation of the freed girls. They have experienced horror and now is the time to re-integrate them into the society. With its partners, a special fund could be set aside for their medicals, education and vocational training.
Beyond the Chibok girls’ rehabilitation, terrorism victims need an organised state-supported assistance programme. The United Nations has made moves to compensate them. The initiative stresses the need “to promote and protect the rights of victims of terrorism.” It seeks to address the “dehumanisation of victims of terrorism” by promoting “solidarity for victims of terrorism and assistance for victims and their families and facilitate the normalisation of their lives.” For instance, in the United Kingdom, victims of terrorism can apply for compensation through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. Payments range from £1,000 to £500,000.
Nigerians should close ranks and stop playing politics with terrorism. Countries like Israel and America negotiate with terrorists to free their captured citizens. The anguish would have been unimaginable if Nigeria had refused to negotiate with Boko Haram for the girls to be freed. To escape a similar dilemma, Israel has freed 7,000 prisoners for 16 Israeli soldiers over the decades, according to TIME. In 2014, the Barack Obama administration secured the freedom of Bowe Bergdahl – an American sergeant – by freeing five senior Taliban commanders.
However, nobody, especially the government and the military, should be deceived that Boko Haram terrorism would end with the return of the rest of the girls in captivity. Islamist terrorists have proved that they never give up. They go to uncommon lengths to achieve their aim of instituting the canons of seventh century Islam globally. Their tenacity can be seen in the operations of the Taliban in Afghanistan, after the US forces overthrew them in 2001. But in March, the Taliban announced that it was fully in control of 34 out of 400 districts in the country. Despite international efforts, ISIS is still entrenched in several parts of Syria, controlling oil production, mines, banks, taxation, extorting and kidnapping people, ventures from which it reportedly earned an estimated $2bn in 2014.
Therefore, the campaign to rid Nigeria of insurgency is a long haul. This is evident in the fact that, despite being degraded, Boko Haram is still very active, resorting to suicide bombings again, lying in ambush for security agents and attacking soft targets. To win the war and free the girls, Nigeria should rev up its intelligence apparatus, deploy modern weapons, motivate the troops and de-radicalise youths who wrongly believe in the fantasies woven by terrorists.
