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| Prof. Oby Ezekwesili, alongside Sen. Florence Ita-Giwa, led the call for the release of the Chibok girls. |
As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the International Day of the Girl Child tomorrow, Bring Back Our Girls campaign group and other well meaning Nigerians yesterday renewed the call for the release of the girls who have been in captivity for 178 days.
Former Minister for Education and Convener of the campaign, Prof. Oby Ezekwesili, alongside
renowned politician, Sen. Florence Ita-Giwa, led the call for the release of the Chibok girls at an event organized by the Public Affairs Department of the United States Consulate General’s office to mark the upcoming International Day of the Girl Child in Lagos.
Ita-Giwa, who said the International Day of the Girl Child, scheduled to hold tomorrow, should serve as an opportunity to bring attention to the challenges facing girls around the world, added that the issue of the missing Chibok girls “has been a source of concern to everybody.
It is so unfortunate. I do wish and hope that soon, they will come back home. According to what we are told by the security agencies, they have to be very careful so as not to put the lives of the girls in more danger.
But as a mother, I cannot even think of what it would be like if it was any of my children that such a thing happened to.”
Ezekwesili, also speaking, said she cannot help put herself in the shoes of the missing girls. “If it had been thirty-five years ago when I was just about getting out of secondary school that such a thing happened to me, where would I be? And I just look at it and I say that only God knows what these girls are going through. That is why they need a voice, whether the people speaking out for them are ten or one million; the more the better for them. We must stand and insist that these girls are brought back, safe and alive. We do not know who these girls are going to be. They could be the ones that would solve our problems as a nation. So why should we give up on them.
The voices of these girls have been taken, therefore we must become a voice for them. And we will be a voice.
It comes at a price. I have been pelted with insults, I’ve been maligned, but it doesn’t matter, because nothing any of us is going through can be compared to the plight of those girls.”
Also present at the event, was the Executive Director, Women Consortium of Nigeria, WOCON, Mrs. Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi, who spoke on the need to end marginalisation of women and girls in the country.
She said, ‘the positive multiple effects of educating the girl child should not be overlooked.
Gender disparity is still very much on in Nigeria and as we celebrate the girl-child, every effort towards assisting them achieve their full potential is imperative.”
