Fred Itua, Abuja
The Senate, yesterday, mandated its joint committees on Police Affairs, Security and Intelligence to summon the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, to brief it on the actual situation of things regarding the kidnap of over 100 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State.
The upper legislative chamber, in addition, mandated the committees to enquire from Idris and Buratai their present operational strategies to rescue the remaining Chibok and Dapchi schoolgirls within two weeks.
The decision of the Senate, followed the adoption of a motion to commemorate the 2018 International Women’s Day celebration. The motion was sponsored by Binta Masi Garba and nine other senators. In the absence of Garba, who did not attend the day’s plenary, Biodun Olujimi, presented the motion on her behalf.
In the motion, lawmakers outlined achievements of women in Nigeria and called for more attention to the rights of women. Olujimi, while reading the motion, expressed worries over the spate of girl child kidnappings in Nigeria. She said the pattern has now assumed an alarming dimension.
She said: “The spate of girl child kidnapping in Nigeria has assumed an alarming dimension. On February 21, 2018, the nation was shocked with the news of the kidnap of 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls’ Science Technical College, Dapchi, Busari Local Government Area of Yobe State. This incident is reminiscent of the 2014 Chibok girls’ abduction in which 113 of the girls are still in captivity almost four years after.
“A pattern is gradually being established, which clearly indicates that the objectives of the Boko Haram insurgents is to deprive young girls of school age from pursuing education. If this ugly trend is not checked, girl child education, which is part of the objective of goal number four of the Sustainable Development Goals, would have been lost in Nigeria even before the 2030 target year.”
Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided, called on government at all levels to come up with policies that would empower women. He also called for the implementation of the 35 per cent affirmative action for women.