Following the abduction of 110 school girls from a Technical School at Dapchi, Yobe State on February 11, and their subsequent release on Wednesday, March 21, 2018, a group, Girl-child Right Awareness Initiative in Africa has warned the Federal Government not to allow such to happen again.
The group gave the warning in a press statement signed by its Executive Director, Mrs Temitope Awe, a copy which was made available to DAILY POST on Wednesday.
It opined that the Federal Government goofed by relaxing security arrangement around schools in the front-line states, especially in the female dominated schools that are vulnerable to attacks.
According to the statement, the adoption of Dapchi schoolgirls, while hundreds of Chibok girls are still in captivity portrayed the Muhammad Buhari-led administration as weak and unfit.
It asserted that every necessary mechanism must be annexed to strengthen security of the girl-child in the North East, adding that there should not be any case of adoption of school girls in the region again.
“In as much as we celebrate the return of our girls from the den of their abductors, and heartily commiserate with parents of the slain five girls, it is apt to say that the abduction was practically avoidable and a reflection of ineptitude and weakness on the part of the Federal Government.
“It is a known fact that there is no excuse for the adoption in the face of acclaimed technical defeat of Boko Haram insurgents by the Nigerian Army, and the bitter experience at Chibok.
“This administration must agree in principle that it has failed the Nigerian people in no small way; it has not done anything to protect the girl-child and advance her cause.
“Obviously, the degree of trauma the girls and their families have been subjected to could not be quantified by any standard, the ugly trend will continue to be indelible in their memories,” the statement reads in part.
The group further warned the Federal Government to be careful in the way it negotiates with the dreaded Boko Haram, arguing that making resources available to the insurgents in return for captives naturally portends more danger to the country.
It explained that except in a matter of extreme urgency and importance like that of the Dapchi and Chibokgirls, on no account should negotiations involve monetary exchange.
Speaking on the recent report of the human rights watch, Amnesty International, in which the Nigerian Military was indicted for ignoring early warning of possible attack on the school at Dapchi, the group said such attitude of the army, if it is true was the highest level of irresponsibility.
“The Federal Government must investigate the damning report by Amnesty International; such an act is the highest level of irresponsibility on the party of the military if it turns out to be true.
“However, one will continue to wonder how come the whole of 110 human beings were loaded like luggage in a broad daylight without any intervention from security agents, and the rationale behind the sudden withdrawal of military men from the school some weeks before the attacks”.
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