If there had been adequate security for rural schools, the 219 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram last April will still be with their parents, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, a senior economic adviser, Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative to Open Society Foundations (OSF), has said.
The former minister of Education said the abduction was the height of violence against the girl-child education, urging the society to lend its voice to the campaign for the release of the girls.
Ezekwesili spoke yesterday at an event marking the International Day for the Girl-Child, held at the United States Embassy in Lagos.
She said the reason for women exclusion from the activities of a society was because of the valuable resources they could contribute to the development of the society, adding that any country that kept its girls out of school would lose its essence in all fronts.
Speaking on the challenges facing the girl-child education in the country, Dr. Ezekwesili said the girl-child’s morale would be boosted if government could secure their schools from invasion by criminals, who wanted to keep them out of school by all means.
She said members of Boko Haram sect would not have succeeded in abducting the Chibok girls if government had provided adequate security for schools in rural communities, where many girls are deprived of education.
She said there was no debate whether girls wanted education or not, stressing that the onus was on the government to provide incentives that would make education attractive to every child.
Said she: “As a country, we should not be a society that will extend untenable options to a girl-child on whether she wants education or she wants to be saved. If hundreds of schoolgirls in Chibok village could answer a clarion call to get education despite their deprived backgrounds, we should not pretend not to understand what the girl-child wants.
“Sadly, in the course of acquiring education, these girls were abducted by people, who want to keep them out of the school, on April 15. Initially, we pretended as if nothing tragic had happened and the whole country moved on. If it is not that many women rose against the most heinous crime against the girls, we would have pretended as if nothing had happened.
“Because the terrorists went away with murder in Buni Yadi, where they slaughtered students in their sleep, they had the effrontery to move their evil campaign to Chibok and abducted 276 schoolgirls, who were writing examinations. This is the most heinous crime against the girl-child.”
While government said it was working round the clock to bring back the girls, Ezekwesili said it did not matter how the girls are rescued, but they must be brought back alive.
She added: “On June 24, the spokesman for the Armed Forces told the world that the girls had been found. I was one of those, who clapped for our military officers for rescuing the girls from the criminals. Later, we were told the story was untrue and since then, we have been clamouring for the release of the girls.
“We don’t care how the girls are rescued by the government. Either militarily or through dialogue, we cannot afford to be in a state of inaction. Empathy is the virtue that will make a man go into a public office and ensure that the society is run perfectly. If the Chibok girls had been the children of the elite and the political class, I wouldn’t have been spending my time to campaign about it in Abuja. But these are the children of the deprived people, who want to be educated despite their background. This is why we must all stand up to ensure the girls are brought back and alive.”
The Executive Director, Women Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON), Mrs. Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi, said early marriage of the girl-child is a bad tradition that must be frowned at. She said economic incentives should be given to parents to enable them cater for their children in schools.
Other speakers at the event included Senator Florence Ita-Giwa and a healthcare entrepreneur, Adebayo Alonge, among others.
