Back in 2014, 276 girls who were from the ages of 12-18 were abducted from their school in Chibok Nigeria. 57 of them managed to escape their captors that night of the attack, and 21 others were released in October 2016 by the terror group in a deal brokered by the Red Cross. The federal government secured the release of 82 of them in May 2017 in a prisoner swap deal that reportedly involved releasing Boko Haram terrorists in detention. Some others were freed during military operations while six of them were also reported to have died in 2016.
However, there are still over 100 still missing, and doesn’t seem like the Nigerian government, world leaders, or rescue groups have any plans to locate or free them. I remember back in 2014, there was this big global campaign across the internet called “Bring Our Girls Back.” The slogan became a hashtag, and you can see influential people such as Michelle Obama flashing the BOGB sign on the internet. Slowly but surely that rallying cry has turned mute, and the girls and their families are still suffering.
What’s worse is that particular incident has started a surge of kidnappings of primary girls and young women across Nigeria. According to Leadership.ng, there were 1441 school children kidnapped in Nigeria, last year alone. It has become a big business with some of the victims being enslaved or married to various people without their consent. With that said, I was wondering is there still a major concern for those people, or was it just a fad that was suspended in viral history. Either way, I think someone needs to remind everyone that need to Bring Those Girls Back!