Chibok escapees in limbo, 4 years on
KANO (Nigeria): Saraya Amos and 56 of her classmates staged a daring escape from Boko Haram militants, who raided their secondary school in Chibok.
Unlike the 219 girls who were spirited away in a convoy of trucks into the darkness, most of them not to be seen again for several years, the 57 were considered the lucky ones.
But as Nigeria yesterday marks the fourth anniversary of the mass abduction, some of the escapees are unhappy and feel abandoned.
Most of the 106 who have been found or freed as a result of government negotiations with Boko Haram are studying at American University in Yola, Adamawa.
“We deserve equal treatment and opportunity,” said Amos, who lived with her parents in Chibok and helped on the family farm. Some of those rescued are studying at the university, but we have been forgotten.”
While the former captives had gone back to education at the university, Amos and the other escapees said they struggled to finish theirs, despite government pledges of support.
School tuition fees were covered but auxiliary costs, such as travel and food, had made staying in education impossible.
Amos said that had “destroyed” her dream of becoming a lawyer.
“We feel abandoned, our future is hanging in the balance because the chance of furthering our education is bleak,” she added.
Hadiza Fali, 20, who wanted to become an agricultural engineer, said it was awful to see that not all the girls’ fortunes were good.
“I feel let down and am treated like a second-class citizen. I want to continue with my education if given the chance,” she said.
“We aren’t in school, we have been idling away at home for the past one year doing nothing, apart from helping out our parents on the farm.”
Chibok girls parents’ association chairman Yakubu Nkeki said students who gained the results to head to university were in limbo, and their impoverished parents were unable to help.
The girls’ plight is not unusual in Nigeria’s remote northeast, where access to education is low.
Nine years of fighting has made it harder for students in such areas, as Boko Haram targeted schools and teachers.
The Borno state government had pledged to spend 1.5 million naira (RM16,000) on the escapees every year until they finished university.
Three attended a college in the United States with the help of a Christian charity.
Fifty-four others from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok were enrolled in two private boarding schools. Christians were sent to study in Jos while Muslim were taken to Katsina.
Seventeen girls dropped out because their parents could not afford to pay for food and basic toiletries. Three of them sent to Katsina dropped out because their parents could not raise the 12,000 naira transport fare for the 730km trip back to school at the end of holidays.
“They found it difficult to cope and dropped out,” said Yagana Yamane, 18, who wanted to become a doctor.
“One has gotten married and the other two are planning their weddings,” said Yamane, who feared marriage might be the only option for her as well.