16 Days to Children’s Day: Celebrating without Chibok girls?

Every country in the world knows quite well that children are the future and does everything possible to safeguard that future by giving the children adequate care and respect their rights.

Nigeria is a good country with good people. I have never seen anything that unites the country apart from football and our children. Protests and rallies from every part of the country over the kidnapped Chibok girls attest to this.

If Nigerians who do not carrying arms and are not the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces are protesting every day and some are even ready to go to the so-called Sambisa forest, what then are our armed forces doing? Has Nigeria become the ‘Giant of Africa’ in name only? Frankly speaking, our President did say the truth on television that the country is not well positioned to combat terrorists because we have never faced this kind of problem before. Do we say he is just unfortunate that this thing is happening during his tenure? We know we are in this situation because past leaders failed to prepare the armed forces for this challenge.

Nevertheless, Boko Haram has been in full operation since the inception of the president. If he had taken adequate action by equipping our forces and seek help from outside the country, the story possibly would have changed. How many people have lost their lives apart from children? What has happened to the defence allocation in the budget? Why is government so indifferent to the safety of its citizens?

Now that the Boko Haram leader has declared that they have sold these children to different countries and Nigerians are asking the president to bring them back, is it not high time everybody works together with the international community that wents to help rather than dancing back to negotiate with Abubakar Shekau like northern elders want to do now. What do we as a nation want to celebrate in the history of Nigeria on May 27, the Children Day?

abducted-girls

Students and teachers share their views on the Chibok girls’ abduction

By Anino Aganbi

Government should plead with the abductors

I would like to appeal to government that they should do more on the rescue of the girls. The news we hear every day on this incident is disheartening. Government needs to find the people behind this and plead with them to release the girls. My prayer is that God will not allow something like the abduction happen again. We sympathise with the parents of those involved on what they are going through and we pray that such occurrence will not happen again – Mrs. Adedipe (Teacher)

We pray for divine intervention

I feel very sad about the Chibok girls. I implore government to put in more effort to rescue the girls. As a nation, we can only pray for divine protection - Mrs. Adegbenro (Teacher)

Govt can organize traditionalists to tackle the insurgents

I think the president needs to find out what the insurgents really want and find a lasting solution to it. Government at all levels should beef up security. What happened to the Chibok girls should not be allowed to occur again. Government can organize traditionalists so they can use their charms to counter the insurgents since arms do not seem to be working - Micheal Adedipe
The abductors are after the president

I think the president has a lot to do so that these girls can be free. The people who have taken the girls probably do not want President Jonathan to remain in office; so they are doing everything to make his tenure difficult – Daramola Olajumoke

Attacked communities should work with government

It is uncalled for that such a thing as abducting girls from schools should be happening in a nation that is the ‘Giant of Africa’. It hurts that a country like this has not been able to find a lasting solution since the girls were taken. The security threat did not begin over night. It has been building up over time but government ignored it hoping the problem would go away. The Federal Government needs to find a lasting solution to this issue aside the CCTV cameras that were mounted. I want to believe that if the attacked communities can work with government since they know the terrain better, something positive can come up – Kolawole Momoh (Principal)

Military should put in more efforts

I feel the military people should put in more efforts to bring the Chibok girls back. The parents of these girls cannot be happy about what has happened. The president needs to employ more security officers to safe guard our schools and the lives of children.- Gloria Anyatowun
Government should tighten security

It is painful that our leaders have not been able to do anything since the girls were abducted. There is no mother who is happy about what is happening especially when you think about the pains and stress you passed through during delivery and nurturing the child and the child is kidnapped. My prayer is that God would lead us on what to do. The president should lead the efforts to rescue the girls and tighten security across the country. We cannot continue to live in fear for our lives and those of our children.
- Miss Adeola Okunola (Head Teacher).

We should be more security conscious

I believe schools should have good security in place so that
students can be safe. Parents and teachers also need to be more security conscious. The Chibok girls should be released. The president should also tighten security at our borders to deter terrorists - Ibrahim Adeleye

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