WED, APRIL 17 2019-theG&BJournal- Sunday, April 14, 2019 marked the 5th anniversary of the abduction of 276 schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram. 57 girls escaped in the first 24 hours. In the last 5 years, 107 of the 219 girls held captive either escaped, were released after negotiations, or were found after the army liberated the areas where they were being held. To date, 112 Chibok Girls remain captives of the terrorists.
Leah Sharibu, who was abducted from Government Girls Science & Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State on Monday, February 19, 2018 and Alice Ngaddah, an employee of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UN-ICEF) also remain in captivity.
Members of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement in Lagos met with the Governor-Elect of Lagos State, Mr BabajideSanwo-Olu, on Monday, April 15th to discuss the plight of the Chibok girls and other related issues of concern.
BBOG is a loose coalition of individuals and organizations advocating for the rescue and rehabilitation of the Chibok girls whose names, faces, families and addresses were catalogued and could be identified, unlike thousands of others who are nameless and undocumented. In the course of the advocacy, it has become ap-parent to us that whilst demanding from our government that it fulfills its role of rescuing our girls, we cannot but also speak out on the general welfare of our children – the stolen, the trafficked, the kidnapped, the displaced, and the lost.
During the meeting, the following issues were raised:
- Migration to Lagos
It is estimated that one million people migrate to Lagos every year, setting up adhoc slum commun-ities, putting pressure on the state’s infrastructure and causing security challenges from unemployed residents and no accountability framework; yet camps for internally displaced persons in Lagos are empty.
The BBOG Family asked the Governor-Elect to undertake an urgent review of the identification sys-tem for Lagosians and to more effectively provide support for those who have made Lagos home due to insecurity and the destruction of their communities.
- Street Children
While it is illegal for children to stay out of school, the number of children hawking and begging on the streets of Lagos has increased significantly in the last 5 years.
The BBOG Family asked the Governor-Elect to enforce the laws that make it illegal for children to be out of school and to prosecute the cartels that traffick them to Lagos.
- Safe Schools Initiative
Following the BuniYadi massacre and the Chibok abduction, the Federal Government launched the Safe Schools Initiative which entails (a) school-based interventions; (b) community interventions to protect schools; and (c) special measures for at-risk populations. Lagos has suffered its fair share with the abductions in Epe and Ikorodu in 2016 and the recent building collapse in ItaFaji that killed at least 20 children and injured others.
We asked the Governor-Elect to look into the safety of public schools in Lagos and ensure that pri-vate schools comply with building codes to prevent deaths. Lagos State employees who are compli-cit should also be prosecuted.
- Nigeria Legion
The legionnaires were deployed in September 2018 to work with the National Civil Defense to pro-vide security in schools in Lagos. The current challenges of personal security of the legionnaires in the face of cults in public schools; insufficient manpower and their terms of service –uniforms are self-funded and unpaid salaries since December 2018 were brought to his notice.
We asked the Governor-Elect to review their conditions of service to ensure they are sufficiently equipped and motivated to protect our children in schools.
- National Missing Persons’Register (MPR)
A key policy outcome of the 5 years of the Bring Back Our Girls advocacy is the National Missing Persons Register. The mandate documents were signed in November 2018 and three states have been chosen as pilot states –Benue, Borno and Rivers.
We asked the Governor-Elect to lend his voice to the call that the MPR is formally launched and funded.
In closing, we reminded the Governor-Elect that Lagos State has been supportive of the Bring Back our Girls movement since 2014, giving us space to meet weekly –first by Marina and now at Falomo Roundabout. We told him that we expect this support to continue until all the girls are returned.
We also encouraged the Governor-Elect to use his role as a future member of the Governors’Forum to champion the cause of the missing and displaced, encourage adequate budgetary support for the MPR and offer Lagos as a pilot state.
During the engagement, the Governor-Elect listened to each person that spoke, took notes and asked ques-tions. He had worked in Borno in the early days of his career as a Seismic Data Engineer, so he was familiar with the terrain. In his response, he reiterated the importance of data in addressing the issues raised –migration, street children and missing persons. He recognized the social challenges that should trigger col-laboration between the state and other stakeholders and noted that his government will be open to pur-poseful collaborations and meaningful partnerships that will make Lagos greater and improve the lives of its citizens. He also committed to reviewing the issues presented and addressing them accordingly within the powers and resources of the state.
God bless Lagos State and the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
For and on behalf of #BringBackOurGirls Lagos Family
AbiolaAkiyode-Afolabi • Adwoa Edun•Aisha Oyebode•Ayo Obe• BabasolaOlalere•Deji Kolawole•F.T. Adebayo•Habiba Balogun•Jonathan Okanlawon•Monday Ojon•Ngozi Iwere•YahiBwata•‘Yemi Adamolekun•Yemisi Ransome-Kuti.
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