From Chibok to Dapchi: How Boko Haram’s religious extremism campaign is disrupting girls’ education in Northern Nigeria

Fasilat Oluwuyi

Over 100 girls kidnapped from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, Borno state, in April 2014 by the Boko Haram terror group are still in captivity seven years later.

The terror group abducted 276 girls from the Northern Nigeria school and were reportedly taken to Sambisa forest, where the jihadist group has turned into its abode.

The group carried out another high-profile abduction on February 19, 2018, taking into custody 110 girls from Government Girls and Technical College in Dapchi. While the girls were released a week later, one of the abductees, Leah Sharibu, is still in captivity. Sharibu, according to some of the freed girls, was not released because she refused to renounce her Christian faith.

According to Leah’s mother, Rebecca Sharibu, her family hopes the government will still secure her daughter’s freedom.

“Out of the 110 girls abducted, it is only my daughter that has not been released. Why did Buhari not adopt the same strategy he used in gaining the release of the others to free my girl? They negotiated the release of those kidnapped in Katsina state; why wouldn’t they negotiate for my daughter’s release? Just one girl,” She lamented.

The origin of Boko Haram

The group traces its roots to the town of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria, where the locals nicknamed its members “Boko Haram,” a combination of the Hausa word “Boko,” which means “Western education” and the Arabic word “haram”, which figuratively refers to “sin” or “forbidden.”

The primary focus of Boko Haram during its establishment in 2002 was to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. Over the years, the terror group has increasingly focused on disrupting education, especially for girls.

Following the abductions in Chibok and Dapchi, education in north Nigeria has been affected as the group continues to push for the abolishment of western education.

Surviving Boko Haram abductions

Deborah is among the Boko Haram brutality survivors for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. Unfortunately, the extremist killed her father, a pastor, alongside her sister due to their resistance to convert to Islam.

During an interview with the BBC, one of the abducted girls’ parents in Dapchi said Boko Haram had warned them against enrolling in school after the release or risk being taken away again.

The secret diaries kept by the freed Chibok girls also details how Boko Haram compelled the students to convert to Islam or get killed. The militants reportedly separated the girls based on their religion and threatened to burn those who resisted.

“Who and how many of you will turn to Muslim? The rest that remains you want to die is why you don’t want to be Muslim? We are going to burn you,” Boko Haram members said.

The diary entries claim that the girls were given only 30 minutes to decide, but none complied. However, the militant resorted to harsh punishment, including regular beatings and hard chores.

The then leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, was also reported to have told the girls they were kidnapped to be taught the ways and practices of the Islamic religion.

After the kidnapping, most Chibok girls were forced into early marriages by their captors and returned home with babies. The girls who resorted to converting to Islam were allegedly forced to marry Bokon Haram members, claiming it was a religious norm since it is a sign of respect.

Impact of kidnappings on education

According to UNICEF, about a 10.5million children in Nigeria aged 5–14 years are not in school despite primary education being declared free and compulsory. For those who reside in northern Nigeria, UNICEF says, the picture is bleaker with a net attendance rate of 53 per cent.

UNICEF stated that the attendance rate for girls in the region is lower since more than half are not in school. The agency also stated that getting out-of-school children back into the education system has continued to pose a massive challenge.

“Gender, like geography and poverty, is an important factor in the pattern of educational marginalization. States in the northeast and northwest have female primary net attendance rates of 47.7 per cent and 47.3 per cent, respectively, meaning that more than half of the girls are not in school. The education deprivation in northern Nigeria is driven by various factors, including economic barriers and socio-cultural norms and practices that discourage informal attendance education, especially for girls,” UNICEF said.

According to Peter Hawkins, a UNICEF representative in Nigeria, education should be made safe for children since its a priority.

“It is unacceptable that communities should be worried to send their children to school over fears they will be abducted from what should be a safe space. It is unacceptable that children need to fear returning to their friends and classrooms — and that parents are afraid that if they send their children to school, they may never return. This insecurity must end so that children can return to their normal lives and benefit from all the important things being in school brings them. We need to end this insecurity and make our priorities clear — that Nigerian children can and must be allowed to benefit from an education in a safe space,” said Hawkins.

On his part, Daniel Nyada, a resident of Chibok, says though the school has been reopened, the fear of attacks still lingers.

“Most of our schools have resumed. I think it’s just personal fear but the environment, especially inside Chibok, is calm though there may be challenges. There’s fear from parents they want their children to go to school. For those that can afford, they prefer to enrol their children outside the Chibok locality,” said Nyada.

More schools remain shut over attacks

According to Save the Children International, 100 attacks on schools have been recorded between 2015 and 2019. The attacks have reportedly resulted in the abduction of over 1,000 students, forcing the government to order the closure of schools.

According to the organization’s Country Director, Mercy Gichuchi, girls, women, and children are the most vulnerable in such a conflict.

Gichuhi, who highlighted the plight of girls during the attacks, said they get subjected to gender-based violence, trauma, physical and sexual abuse which forces many to withdraw from school.

Speaking during an interview, Dr Marathana Allen, an activist and a convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign, highlighted the negative impact the Boko Haram terrorist attacks have had on the education of girls and the entire northern region.

“At some point, if you have 24 out of over 27 local government non-functional and in most of this local government, you have not less than 30 or 40 primary schools you have some secondary school up to 10 or 15 some you will even have up to 10 higher institutions, and all were closed that alone is a strong indication that it has negatively affected education, the student and the education policy. So it is beyond the North East it has become a Nigerian issue. We have seen the abductions of Kaduna State University students being abducted,” said Allen.

The activist said the Boko Haram abductions need to be addressed with the seriousness they deserve. He stated many schools have continued to be shut down due to Boko Haram’s activities, adding that most of the freed girls have refused to go back to school even after they were released.

Allen noted that parents had been left to face different kinds of trauma since their girls were kidnapped seven years ago. He described the situation as hopeless, saying the government has not solved the recurring challenges.

“You can’t paint the picture of how trauma looks. And nobody can describe to you how they are feeling having sent your child to school. It is viewed differently how it feels for you to send your child to school to get an education and then the child never returns, for seven years six years it’s getting to eight years, and all that they get to read on the pages of a newspaper is that they are doing something to rescue them.

“What kind of description can we give to that kind of situation? It’s a kind of hopeless situation that gets me irritated and even gets me dejected anytime I talk about it because I have been speaking from day one of the abductions of the schoolgirls, and I have been answering millions of questions that I am just tired of,” said Allen.

He noted that normal activities have not resumed impacting the general economic activities in the wake of the abductions. For instance, some areas have seen federal roads closed to contain the attacks.

The activist also frowned at the federal government’s move to rehabilitate terrorists and grant them amnesty. He says it’s better to have them imprisoned than rehabilitate them.

The hopeless situation in northern Nigeria

Elsewhere former Chairman Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Chibok, Pastor Philip Madu, described the situation as hopeless.

Madu said as a Christian leaders; they do not have any power to act in the Northern part of the country.

“As religious leaders, particularly the Christians, we don’t have the power to act or tell the government something that the government must do. We want them to do for us, but rather we only believe in God and trust him because, in the Northern part of Country Nigeria, you don’t have a voice once you are not a Muslim. Hence, we only depend on God and look up to him that he is the only one that will help us,” said Madu.

Additionally, Madu stressed that the situation took a toll on education while casting parents in despair. He said some of the abducted girls’ parents have died waiting for the return of their daughters, while some have been married off.

Interestingly, Madu noted that despite the abduction of girls, Christians and Muslims in Chibok co-exist without any friction. He said both religions have participated in several cultural activities like naming rights.

Boko Haram using religion as a cover

According to Nkeki Mutah, a Chibok community leader and a vibrant member of BBOG, the extremist group uses education as a cover to terrorize residents.

“Boko Haram doesn’t want the girls to go to school, but they are only using religion. You know, in the North, once you take something and you say you are doing something to promote Islam, even if the person is a victim, they’ll still support you. The truth is that the economic and political motive that’s number one. Then the whole easiest way is to use religion on the back to achieve the need,” Mutah claimed.

However, he questioned the government’s commitment to enhancing security in northern Nigeria. According to the former civil servant, the Nigerian government has the machinery and capacity to restore security in the region.

“My charge to the government is that we only live our faith in God and the orchestrated development that led to the disappearance of our girls and the perseverance attacks that our people are still experiencing. We live in God. But as for the government, I don’t think it is interested in protecting our people. Because I know how powerful the Nigerian government should be.”

He claimed that due to the government’s inability to curb the insecurity, most residents have resolved to keep sending their children to school despite the lingering threats of attacks from Boko Haram.

“This story was produced with the support of the Internationale Center for Journalists (ICFJ), in partnership with Code for Africa and Ayin Network.”