Senate summons IGP, COAS over abducted Dapchi schoolgirls

Aftermath of the abduction of Dapchi schoolgirls in Yobe State, the Senate on Thursday resolved to summon the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Gen Tukur Buratai, to brief it on the breach of security leading to the incident.

The IGP is to brief the Senate on clear operational strategies to rescue the abducted Dapchi School girls and the remaining Chibok girls

The Senate, against this background, mandated its Committees on Police Affairs; Security and Intelligence to invite the top security chiefs for investigation on the kidnapping of schoolgirls.

The Upper Chamber took the decision after a motion titled: “2018 International Women’s Day with the theme: Press for Progress Now” moved by Senator Binta Masi-Garba (APC Adamawa North), and cosponsored by eight others, but read by Biodun Olujimi (PDP Ekiti South).

Leading debate on the motion, Senator Olujimi, noted that March 8, is the International Women’s Day, a day that honor the achievements and calls attention to the rights of women.

Olujimi lamented the spate of girl-child kidnappings in Nigeria, lamenting that the problem has assumed an alarming dimension.

She said “On the 21st of February, 2018, the nation was shocked with the news of the kidnap of 110 school girls from Government Girls Science Technical College, Dapchi, Busari Local Government Area of Yobe State. This incidence is reminiscence of the 2014 Chibok Girls
abduction in which 113 of the girls is stilt in captivity almost four years after”.

Olujimi, Senate Deputy Minority Whip, expressed regrets on what she described as a pattern being gradually established by Boko Haram to deprive young girls of school age opportunity to pursue their education.

She said if this ugly trend is not checked, the girl-child education which is part of the objective of goal number 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) would have been lost in Nigeria even before the 2030 target year.

Olujimi noted that policies are needed to promote women’s access to education, innovative technologies and practices, decent work and climate-resilient jobs and protect women from violence in schools and work places.

She said the implementation of policies that prohibits violence against women and girls and promotes the girl-child education is still very poor.

“Practices such as violence against women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking, sexual and other types of exploitation, early child and forced marriage, female genital mutilation are still being practiced”, she said.

In his remarks, Senator Ali Aidoko (PDP, Kogi East) noted that women needed to be celebrated for their unique roles in the society, lamenting that they have long been marginalized, shortchanged and therefore, needed to be supported.

He said this has become necessary “because women and children are always the victims of terrorism, kidnapping and war”, adding that we need to protect our women, it is just unfortunate that this is the only country where women are not protected”.

But the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary agreed that women are needed to be celebrated due to their unique accomplishments in all facets of life.