In the end, they had to help themselves escape. Sixty of the 276 Nigerian girls abducted from a school in its north-east region in April have made their way back home and no thanks to their government or the international community. These girls simply fled from their captors at an opportune moment, given that the Nigerian government and its military have shown little capability over the past three months in dealing with the situation. The world, meanwhile, seems to have moved on to other urgent issues, leaving the girls to their own devices. But the fact remains that the plight of the captive girls is still a burning issue that questions the partisan nature of strong governments that choose to turn a blind eye to terrorism when their own interests are not being served.
While the precarious nature of the rescue operations involved is understandable, the inordinate delay is not. That 60 girls managed to escape is sheer good luck for them, but for the remaining girls in captivity, it could portend a more grim existence as their incarceration takes on more stringent overtones. For their sake, Nigeria needs to step up its clean-up operations and come up with a decisive strategy to help them return to their parents.
