“It is beyond time that the Nigerian authorities took meaningful action to counter armed groups like Boko Haram and gunmen. Nigeria has an obligation to implement safeguards to protect all children, and the lack of accountability for these callous crimes is fueling impunity. The missing Chibok school girls should be returned home to their families, and all those responsible for committing grave violations must face justice.”
He said between December 2020 and March 2021, there had been at least five reported cases of abductions in northern Nigeria, including from schools, at Kankara, Kagara, Jangebe, Damishi Kaduna, Tegina and Yawuri while the threat of further attacks had led to the closure of over 600 schools in the north of the country.
At the end of March, Amnesty International said it interviewed five Chibok schoolgirls who had escaped from Boko Haram and their parents.
In the interview, they said they had lost almost all hope that the other 98 girls would ever be rescued.
One of the returnees told Amnesty International, “The Nigerian government should not forget about the remaining 98 girls. They should be rescued. Every morning I wake up and recall the condition I left them in. I cry, I feel sorry for them. Nine years is too long to be in such a deplorable condition. The government must fulfill its promise of rescuing all the girls.”
One of the parents told the international human rights body that, “Our pain is endless because 14 of the girls came back with 24 children. We have with us grandchildren whose fathers are unknown to us. Our burden has now multiplied as we do not have the money to bear the additional burden of feeding, educating, and providing healthcare for our returnee children and grandchildren.
