chibok girls - Women of Rubies

In Career Gems October 4, 2019 By Editor

FIVE YEARS AFTER THE ABDUCTION OF 219 SCHOOL GIRLS, CHIBOK SCHOOL REMAINS SHUT

Over five years after the abduction of 219 schoolgirls and the burning of the school, the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, is still under lock and key as pupils now receive lessons at a primary school nearby.

Boko Haram insurgents had on April 14, 2014 stormed the school dormitory and forcefully abducted over 200 girls, but 57 of the girls escaped and found their way back home. The Federal Government subsequently negotiated with the abductors and freed over 100 girls, leaving 112 others in captivity for the past 1,998 days.

A member of the Kibaku Area Development Association in Abuja, Dr. Manasseh Allen, on Wednesday, October 2nd bemoaned the failure of the Federal Government to rescue the remaining 112 girls in Boko Haram captivity, almost 2,000 days after the insurgents stormed their dormitories and forcefully took them away.

Allen noted that the government had not offered any form of succour to the parents of the missing girls or the community as a whole. He also alleged that over 21 Chibok parents had died as a result of trauma.

He said, “Aside the presence of a military brigade in Chibok, which has been doing its best to protect the people, the government has not done anything either directly for the parents or the people. The school has neither been completed nor put into operation. It is part of the primary school that the pupils are now using. They go there in the afternoon after the primary school pupils had closed.

“If the government was serious about changing the lives of the people, the school would have been completed as a way of countering extremism. The Federal Government should have been able to build the school to international standard, furnish it in such a way as to send a strong signal to the terrorists that they cannot cow us.”

Allen said the government could not negotiate the release of the remaining 112 girls, stressing that the release of the first batch of 100 girls was achieved through negotiation by the Department of State Services. He added, “None of the girls was rescued through military operations. We know that even if not all, most of them are still alive. If the government is serious about securing their release, it can get them alive.

“We still believe that most of the girls are alive and they want to come home. Those that were married by the insurgents are running away from the bush and coming back to civilisation. We are confident that those that were forcefully taken away will look for a way to return to their loved ones.”

The Chibok indigene said many people had fled their communities in the Chibok Local Government Areas, following the spate of attacks by the insurgents. “I have lost count of the attacks, but they (Boko Haram) have attacked Gatamarwa more than five times, Flemagalama more than five times, and other communities. The attacks are so many that we don’t bother counting. As a result of this, many people have abandoned their farmlands and this has affected food production in the area,” Allen said.

Credit: LIB

In Editor's Choice February 9, 2019 By Esther Ijewere

“I WANT TO EMPOWER & LEND MY VOICE TO VOICELESS NORTHERN WOMEN” – FATIMA HABIB

When you meet Fatima Habib you would think she is in her late 30’s because of her wealth of knowledge and go getting spirit, The 19 year old undergraduate from Borno state is the founder of of Advocacy for Human Value Foundation. An initiative she started when she was just 14 . Fatima has organised over 15 projects across Northern Nigeria, Impacting lives and giving voiceless women a voice. She is also the first Girl to work on the Fight Against illiteracy in the North and the First to lead the Bring Back Our Chibok Girls in her state.

Fatima shares her story with me in this interview as she expresses her passion for Northern women and the need to help them find their place in the society

Childhood Influence

My parents were my first teachers. Things they say and do, their way of being and relating to me and others, laid the foundation for many of my beliefs, values, attitudes and respect to people around me.

I attended my Secondary School (Adeola International School Abuja) also contributed in some of these after my parents laid down the basic foundation for me to Startup life.

Fatima!

I was born in the year 1999 September 23rd. I am Kanuri by tribe and hail from Maiduguri, Borno State. I had my Primary and Secondary Schools at Adeola International School Abuja and later moved to Maitama Model Secondary School Abuja to complete my SSCE in 2015.

I am the Founder of Advocacy for Human Value Foundation (a Non-Governmental Organization registered by Corporate Affairs Commission in February 2017). I am as well an activist who is advocating against the negativity of child sexual exploitation and promoting girl-child education and almaJiri education system in Nigeria. I am currently studying Political Science at the University of Maiduguri (year 3) and also an alumni of Young African Leaders Initiative (Yali)

Touching lives

About thousand of people’s lives have been impacted and shaped with my foundation as we have been able to give children their right education by enrolling them in schools and funding their education. We have done a lot of fund raising on social media platforms and also television in providing hospital expenses to the people with special disabilities ( Vulnerable members of the society). Periodically, I visit the Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) camps in Maiduguri and hold discussion session with some of our targets where we talk out the problems faced by them. This leads to curing of trauma and depression amongst the vulnerable members in the various camps we visited. I recently started the advocacy on Sexual exploitation. We advocate to make these victims become more stronger, well-informed so despite the daunting challenge they could be able to speak up and change the face of the world.

Work challenges

Combining school and charity work,I will never advise others to try this because this is the worst way of taking the risk. It’s so challenging. Sometimes you are at work and an important class is going on and sometimes while in school and an important meeting or conference of Humanitarian nature is going on that may require your attention. Another challenge I face is lack of an office accommodation which would have emboldened me perform and achieve better than what I am doing at the moment.

Starting at age 14

During our secondary school, as students we were taken to orphanage homes on excursion several times by my school Adeola International School and in most cases the way and manner the orphans positively behaved and acted made me emotional. The thought of what the future held for them and given the minus of not having both parents spurred me to develop the interest of helping the orphans and the less privileged members of the society.

Supporting Northern women

I am trying to make women get access to capital and also empower them in collaboration with some entrepreneurs so they learn entrepreneurship because Women run 30% of all registered businesses worldwide, yet only 10% of women entrepreneurs have access to the capital they need to grow. Partnerships are crucial: mobilising the skills and resources of public and private sectors creates a bigger impact than working in isolation.

Other Projects

As my religion preaches humility in giving, also advocates feeding the hungry, regardless of race, religion or background. It is such an important part of the religion that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said a person is not really a Muslim if he goes to bed satiated while his neighbor goes hungry. In line with the above I have initiated and executed the following projects and programmes so far in 17 states to my credit:- Fundraising workshop, Outreach to Christian and Muslim widows , Community awareness on HIV/AID, sponsoring 20 children through school and many more.

Reward

My greatest reward was my recognition as the Youngest humanitarian of the year 2017, Nigerian Goodwill ambassadors award.

In five years…

I see my organisation Successfully deep into Humanitarian Activities; done with strata of schools having equipped myself to face challenges of life and established orphanage-home and college inshaa-Allah

My Inspiration

Let me start with the man whose character, intellectual milieu and philanthropic gesture to whosoever approaches him in the day, middle of the night or at whatever condition you get to him are very rare in our world of today. He is Dr. Mohammed Kyari Dikwa mni, a Permanent Secretary designate in the Federal Government of Nigeria, also Dr. Zainab Bagudu (the Kebbi state First Lady) whose Medicaid Cancer Foundation similar to my Foundation’s objectives remains dear to my heart as a woman. I also had the opportunity of meeting Hajia Laraba Shuaibu (a barrister who works with my dad in Corporate Affairs Commission) in 2014 with my siblings. She had a cupboard-of awards displayed in her sitting room which I believe was as a result of her versatility, network and consistency towards her work and profession.

Being a Woman of Rubies

I am very ambitious. Supporting and encouraging people to pursue their own goals and dreams, I make my own as well. I have a vision for my future and chase after it with voracity.

Advice to women

Try to stay positive by being a positive thinker so I positively shape the lives of the vulnerable members of the society for them to believe in positivity too.

In self development January 15, 2019 By Editor

BBOG KICK-STARTS GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO MARK 5 YEARS SINCE THE CHIBOK GIRLS’ ABDUCTION

The Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement has launched a 3-month Global Campaign starting on Sunday January 13th, 2019, 90 days to making it 5 years since the Chibok Girls
were last free citizens of Nigeria.

In a statement released on Monday, the BBOG said: “This 90-day campaign is to pressure our government to free our 112 Chibok Girls, Leah Sharibu, Alice Ngaddah and countless other abductees before the fifth anniversary of the abduction, which will come up on Sunday April 14, 2019.”

The statement continued:

As a movement made up of concerned Nigerians of all economic classes and provenance,
we demand that our government:

1. Bring back our girls NOW and ALIVE!
2. Equip and look after the welfare of our police and our troops
3. Give our children safe and secure schools
4. Properly rehabilitate those who have been victims of conflict or crisis
5. Respond QUICKLY whenever something bad happens to our citizens, and
6. Communicate about what they are doing to the victim’s families and the general public.

While we are aware of the efforts made so far, and commend the government for the
recovery of 107 Chibok girls, and 106 Dapchi girls, we will not relent in our advocacy and strident demands for the rescue of our school children and fellow citizens from captivity.

We also demand justice for the slain. We acknowledge and honour the sacrifice of our
military and express our thoughts and prayers to the families of our heroes in the armed
forces.

As concerned citizens of this country, the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) advocacy group
has highlighted the plight of these innocent girls and other victims of the insurgency, both at global level, and at home through protest and through constructive engagement with the government and other agencies, to secure the rescue of the abducted girls. Our advocacy includes nearly 5 years of a daily sit-out in Abuja; weekly sit-outs in Lagos, Oshogbo, and Ibadan; visits to key local and international stakeholders; development of strategies and tools such as ‘Citizens Solutions to End Terrorism’ and the ‘Verification, Authentication and Reunification System (VARS)’ for missing persons.

While we remain hopeful and expectant that the rescue of ALL the girls is imminent, if this hope does not materialise before April 14, 2019, we will, with heavy hearts, mark the 5th year of captivity for 112 Chibok Girls by gathering with members of the Chibok community and members of BBOG from all over Lagos.

We empathise with the traumatised families and communities of all the victims of
insurgency, those missing, deceased, and forcibly removed from government schools where
their parents thought they would be safe. We pray that many more families will be able to share in the joy of their children coming back home and having a bright future.

We call on local, national, regional and global influencers and authorities to support
and pressure the Nigerian government to bring the nightmare of school abductions, violent extremism and insecurity to an end.

Signed:
For and on behalf of #BringBackOurGirls Lagos &Ejigbo Families
Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi
Adwoa Edun
Aisha Oyebode
Ayo Obe
Babasola Olalere
Deji Kolawole
F.T. Adebayo
Habiba Balogun
Jonathan Okanlawon
Monday Ojon
Ngozi Iwere
Yahi Bwata
‘Yemi Adamolekun
Yemisi Ransome-Kuti

Credit: Bella Naija

In Career Gems April 18, 2017 By Editor

“I WANT TO BE A DOCTOR” RESCUED CHIBOK SCHOOL GIRLS RESUME CLASSES, SHARE THEIR DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS

In a documentary released by the Presidency, some of the abducted school girls who were rescued by a team of soldiers last year, shared on their dreams and aspirations. The girls who looked better than before, said they have all started classes again. One of them said she loves Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and English Language and that she hopes to become a doctor someday. Watch a clip from the documentary after the cut.