Chibok Girls: Rehabilitation process like another prison – Family members

Following the release of another batch of Chibok girls from the traumatic grip of Boko Haram last week, family members and other stakeholders have voiced concerns that the process of rehabilitating the girls is not being properly handled by the Federal Government and agencies involved.

82 of the now popular Chibok schoolgirls are free once more as a result of a prisoner swap deal between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram insurgents. The release, the biggest since the armed group invaded a school in Borno State to kidnap 276 girls in April 2014, was greeted with cheers and measured anxiety by families waiting to hear if their relatives are among those freed.

While appearing on the latest edition of The Stream, a weekly magazine programme on Al Jazeera monitored by our correspondent, family members and others cautioned the government on the continued isolation of the freed girls from their loved ones.

Speaking on the programme, Peter Joseph, a brother of one of the Chiboks girls released last year, said: “We were very happy when we heard the news that my niece was released which was last October but we are not very happy with the way the government is handling the rehabilitation center. Since she was released, I have only been able to see her once and that was when we travelled to Chibok last December and we are not even aware of how the rehabilitation process is going because nobody is allowed to see them and so it’s like another imprisonment.”

Painting a clearer picture of the limited interactions he has had with her sister more than six months after she was released, Joseph said: “I do talk to her on the phone sometimes but she is not allowed to talk for a long period of time, only for two or three minutes and then she will be cut off. So, there is no time to ask her certain questions. The last time I spoke to her, she said she was going to come but all of a sudden, she said she wasn’t coming anymore and I asked her if we as family members can come and visit her but she said they are not allowed to receive anybody so communication is a major problem.”

Also speaking, the mother of one of the Chibok girls freed in October 2016 said she has only seen her daughter three times since she regained the negotiated freedom. According to the aged mother, she longs to be with her daughter but has to live with the circumstances.

“She is still with the officials, I really want to see her and stay close but I understand the government is helping her with her education so I must wait,” she said.  

The programme which ought to have featured Femi Adesina, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan, had other two others guests as well - Bukky Shonibare of the Bring Back Our Girls Movement and a mental health counsellor known as Somiari Demm.

“One of the things that are expedient is that the hostages are put into a system of rehabilitation, re-integration and re-socialisation. It is expected that government will take charge of these processes and this requires a timeline but where the lacuna is on the part of government is in the area of communication. Members of the family should not only be carried along, they should be made to know what is going on and be able to make some input,” Shonibare, a strategic team member of BBOG said.

Nkeki Mutah, a 57-year-old civil servant who is the vice chairman of the Chibok Community in Abuja, has two nieces among the abducted girls. Thankfully, one of them is among those freed so far. 

“I have so many of my relations among those girls who were abducted, but the closest ones to me are my brothers' children. One of them is the daughter of my junior brother while the other is the daughter of my senior brother. I also have the daughter of one of my nieces among the abductees. In fact, three close relatives and others are from the same town.

“It is only Sarah Emmanuel Mutah, the daughter of my junior brother that has been released. If me, that is a bit far because they are not my biological children, is worried, you can imagine how their parents would feel.

“At the time of abduction one of them, Elizabeth Joseph Mutah was 18 while Sarah is 17. Sarah was rescued but up till now I don't know where she is. I have not seen her since she was rescued alongside 20 others last October. On the day they said parents should come, I went there but the minister stopped me from seeing her. They said they wanted only the parents.” 

Urging President to keep to his promise, Mutah said: “I want the word of Mr President to be fulfilled because when these girls were recovered, Mr President said they had seen the worst in their lives and he wants to make sure that they see the best in their lives from now.  But from what we are now seeing, those who are taking charge tend to cash in on the situation to deprive these girls that re-integration into their families. I don't think they are having the best of life where they are now in government custody. That is the reason why those handling these girls do not see them to know how they are faring.