Our cultures, norms, laws affect girl child rights —Bukky Shonibare

 

Bukky Shonibare is the founder, Girl Child Africa, Coordinator, Adopt-A-Camp and also a Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) frontline campaigner. She shares with DOYIN ADEOYE how the non-implementation of the Child Rights Act (CRA) across some states in the country has adversely affected the right of every child, as well as how the untiring efforts of the BBOG movement has yielded results, especially ahead of the third-year anniversary of the abduction of the Chibok girls.

 

Why do you campaign for the rights of the girl-child?

Looking at the culture, norms, practices and laws that govern Nigeria, one would see that we have such laws and customs that do not necessarily advance the course of the girl-child. And this is more entrenched when you go to the peripherals and communities which are not as exposed as the cities. Those are communities where the rights of the girl child are really affected. For instance, the education of the girl-child is really endangered in the North East.

So girl-child for me is a particular interest especially in protecting their rights and in ensuring that they are educated, because human rights also entail education. We need to close the inequality gap that seems to be very obvious between males and females across Nigeria on various issues. From education to political participation, leadership and income inequality among several inequalities, we need to close that gap. And that is why I am an advocate.

 

There are deep rooted perceptions across cultures especially as regards closing gender gap, and that perhaps explains the non-implementation of the CRA across many states, particularly in Northern Nigeria. Do you feel we can surmount this hurdle?

We would be able to surmount this hurdle. Perhaps it would take us a long time, considering how deep this issue has become. Of the 12 states that are yet to pass the CRA, majority of them are in the North East, except Taraba State which has domesticated the Act. So looking at the peculiarities of the states that are yet to pass the law, one would see violations of the rights of children in these places.

Something led us to that point, so if we can begin to walk from that point backwards, then we can begin to solve the problem. Also if these states can learn from several states that have signed the CRA, then it can become a mirror reflection of what is possible in all the other states.

So yes the right of the child is challenged, especially in the North East, which I am familiar with. I go to Chibok a lot and some other communities, and there you would see norms, cultures and practices that do not favour the education of the girl-child. And even for instance issues of female genital mutilation, child marriage, child labour are still going on in some states in Nigeria. So we still have a long way to go.

So the CRA is to equalise the treatment of the child, whether boy or girl. So that whatsoever way a child is treated in one state, would be the same standard that a child is treated across every other state.

 

It’s been three years since the Chibok girls were abducted. What keeps the BBOG movement going?

April 14, 2017 will make it exactly three years since the Chibok girls were abducted. When we came out the first time on April 30, 2014, we didn’t envisage that we would stay this long. But the peculiarity of the Chibok girls’ abduction is that it exposes to Nigerians and the world at large the extent to which children are endangered in the North East, because beyond insurgency, there are several things affecting children.

So what has kept us on is the fact that the Chibok girls have become the entry point to this conversation. It has become the entry point to the conversation around equal treatment of children, their health and education as a whole in terms of access to quality education. It is also bringing us to talk about leadership and governance; it is bringing us to talk about marginalised places. When you go to these places, the reality there is not the reality of what you see in city centres.

They don’t have electricity or good roads as we do. The first time I went to Chibok in September 2015, there was neither a doctor nor a hospital there. There was only one road that leads to Chibok, but the last time I was there in October 2016, there was a difference. So it helps us to understand some deeply rooted grievances that are fuelling the insurgency. So for us as BBOG movement, what we didn’t see at the beginning, we began to see during the advocacy and it has become that conversation.

We are now beginning to see Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in their millions, something we never expected. My project, ‘Adopt-A-Camp’ involves working in IDP camps and there you will see how people are fed and what is actually going on there; the life there is totally different. So when we look at what the issue of Chibok girls has led us into, it keeps us going.

Also we started the movement to bring back our girls. They are not back and until the girls are back, our work is not yet done.

 

It seems the campaigns have reduced drastically especially in terms of pressure. What is responsible for this; should people keep hoping that we would get all the girls back?

Yes. The campaigns have weaned; it has been three years and I tell you that it has not been easy doing this every day. Wearing a badge everyday and putting up a photo campaign on social media everyday has not been easy. It may look easy, it is not. The first time we came out was on April 30, 2014, and we had to do that every day thereafter. So what we are not seeing again is the number that forces that vigour, but the campaign is still on.

And as regards having all the girls back, the chances may look slim within the context of reality. The reality that first, it has been three years. By the nature of life, people can die. Second, looking at the nature of the insurgence, where they radicalise children and use them as suicide bombers. We don’t know if some of these girls have also been used.

Also there have been reports from those who have escaped that some of them were impregnated and some died during childbirth. There have been reports that airstrikes killed some of them; there have been reports that some died from disease outbreaks. So we don’t have empirical evidence to back this up. But is it a possibility? Yes. 276 girls were abducted, 57 escaped, we’ve had 24 back and we are waiting for 195. The chances may be slim, but what we are saying is that we want all our girls to come back.

If we cannot get all of them, the extent to which we can get is the responsibility of the government to make sure that we get them back.