Missing Persons Register

The recent revelation of children abducted in Kano who were trafficked in Anambra State has put the Nation in a state of frenzy more so because it involves the ingredient we love to use to ignite the war drums: RELIGION!

It is so much easier to whip up sentiments and anger when religion is involved. It  gets things spiced up and quickly rallies support while giving the newly wronged group the space to rail at the other who in turn wait for their time to rail back when an incidence is uncovered that favours them.

In recent times there have been accusations and counter accusations by the two major religions in Nigeria over abduction and forceful conversion of minors. While accusing fingers are being pointed, no concrete effort is made at securing the children who are at the mercy of abductors irrespective of their religion.

In the last few years there have been lots of abductions involving children and the ones that generate the most traction are the ones that the religion of the captor and captive differ otherwise it is almost like business as usual with little or no dust raised. What we fail to understand is that criminals do not operate on the basis of religion or ethnicity. They operate on the basis of criminality and they do not discriminate. They are united in their criminality while the people have refused to be united in fighting back the criminals. Instead they are busy fighting themselves with the National bodies of the two major religions always ready to engage in war of words with one another while the State abdicates its responsibility of protecting the people and more lives most especially that of the children endangered.

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How many more children are out there still missing and unknown to the State and the people except their families? How many are not even known to be missing by anyone. This is not unimaginable with the number of children we have living on the streets all on their own. How many more are right now in danger of being taken by more abductors?  All over the country children are getting missing, many are found faraway from where they were taken and most often in a different region. This could probably be to forestall any chance of the child being recognized. A few years ago a girl that had gotten missing in Kaduna was seen and recognized by her Aunt in another part of Kaduna. It caused such uproar but typical of Nigeria the matter died with no update on how the case ended. The girl had been abducted by a couple who said they took her because she was beautiful. Other children had also been found with the couple.

Children are being abducted and sold to people in need of children. They rename them and pass them off as their own. The children mostly being so young lose their identity and take on the new identity given to them. The children become the new tribe and religion they are abducted into.

There is a need for proper documentation of persons that are missing by the State to help in tracking them, rescuing them and taking them home to their families. The #BringBackOurGirls movement has advocated for a Missing Persons Register to be opened so as to keep track of citizens that are missing in Nigeria since during the administration of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

 On July 8th 2015 the movement met with the then newly elected President Muhammadu Buhari and amongst other things gave him the blueprint for a missing persons register that was to form the bedrock of a National database of missing persons starting with the 219 #ChibokGirls that were then in captivity of which 107 still remain in captivity today. When after several months nothing was done about the missing  persons register by the President, #BringBackOurGirls movement went to the National Human Rights Commission with the missing persons register blueprint which the commission accepted warmly and began work on it. The Federal Government later took an interest in the register but unfortunately it is over 4 years and the register is still nowhere to be found and this is the time we need the register more than ever. We need to keep count of our citizens when they go missing and build a strategic and cohesive plan of getting them back.

The Federal Government needs to take its primary responsibility of protecting the lives and properties of its people seriously. It has absolute control of the machinery to discharge this responsibility. Children must be nurtured and given the protection to be safe and thrive. There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children- Nelson Mandela