NOTE: This interview was conducted with a Nigerian who has spent considerable amounts of time in Nigeria and the United States. They are currently pursing advanced educational opportunities in the United States. The author asked to remain anonymous.
What are your feelings about the kidnapping of school age girls in Nigeria?
It’s always demoralizing to see such actions being carried out in Nigeria. It feels like in a developing country where the goal is to move forward, we are constantly moving backwards. The kidnapping is evidence of bad governance and the disregard for human rights, specifically women’s rights.
What do you think plays a more substantial role in this occurrence: religion or economics?
I believe both factors play somewhat of an equal role. Economics plays a role in the sense that the lack of education and the high rate of unemployment has left many individuals hopeless and helpless, seeking any means of livelihood. They thus fall into the hands or religious extremists who prey on their uneducated and idle minds.
What do you think Nigeria’s government should do to stop these abductions?
Frankly, I feel the government is partly the reason for these problems. Many of these people feel cheated by the government daily. Although, these problems cannot be resolved in a day, a good start would be to create more jobs in these areas, properly allocate the resources found in these areas and develop better schools and other places of education and training. A source of livelihood and education will keep people busy and give them something to look forward to. It will also provide them with income that they can use to take care of themselves and their families.
What are citizens in various states doing to fight back against these kidnappings?
Many people in the country have gone out to protest. They have been various marches, protests and strikes from workers demanding for something to be done and trying to bring awareness to this atrocity.
What impact do you think these occurrences will have on future generations of girls and women?
This will have a severe impact on future generations of women. It sets the country back even more. In a country where women are already seen as inferior, this will only ostracize them even further. As cultural transmission occurs, women will be taught to stay indoors more often, and parents might fear sending their daughters to schools—they might opt for home school or maybe even no school at all. Thus, this can severely impact the liberation of women in these societies.
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This post was previously published on historianspeaks.org.
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