In the past week, young females have received a large amount of attention in the news, though not for the best, unfortunately. Over 200 schoolgirls between the ages of 12 and 15 were abducted in Nigeria in two separate kidnappings. Since then, protestors in Africa have sparked an anti-government movement while waiting for the government to find the missing students.
Gunmen associated with the Islamist militant group Boko Haram are thought to have committed the abductions after a video was released of a man claiming to be the group leader. The man repeatedly tells his audience that he will sell the girls that have been kidnapped, adding that girls should be getting married, not participating in the sin he believes western education is.
The video sparked an Internet interest with the abductions, notably the Twitter petition #BringBackOurGirls. Yet as quick as we are to join in, Nigeria has been ridiculed for its not-so-spirited reaction to the news. The country’s government has been taunted for supposedly ignoring the initial abductions.
Charlotte Alter from Time Magazine wrote a piece called “How We Failed the Lost Girls Kidnapped by Boko Haram,” in which she calls out the Nigerian government for its “atrocious” lack of action. The piece criticizes the minimal security in the area and the lack of communication with the families of the captured girls.
Doyin Okupe, the spokesperson for the Nigerian president, defended the government’s actions, saying, “We’ve done a lot but we are not talking about it. We’re not Americans. We’re not showing people, you know, but it does not mean that we are not doing something,” CNN reported.
Though the statement may come across as a dig toward the United States, Okupe made a point, and a valid one at that.
In an effort to help as much as possible, Obama sent a team of experts to support the search for the hundreds of missing girls. Yes, Nigeria did accept this offer and, yes, this is a sign of support from the United States to the African country.
However, this collaboration has done nothing for Nigeria’s government reputation-wise. Nigeria has been the target of embarrassing comments, especially after the government made a public statement that the girls had been rescued, immediately followed by a withdrawal of the statement, according to The New York Times.
In a world where everything is faster, easier and more efficient, America’s speedy reaction was fit for the issue. Yet the Nigerian government’s effort to find the girls with two search parties covering over 250 locations, according to CNN, is still not good enough for the public.
This is a time for our two countries to come together in the search effort for the hundreds of girls that need our help. This is not an opportunity to criticize a country, especially one going through this crisis.
The energy taken to criticize should instead be transferred to finding those abducted. We need less talk and more action.
Photo courtesy Creative Commons.
