By?Kwame Danso Acheampong
The abduction of 230 schoolgirls in Chibok and eight more near the same area recently by Islamist Militant group Boko Haram, has caused international outrage.
Attempts to free the girls have gained international attention. World media is filled with discussions about the girls? abduction. Rescue efforts heightened soon after Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau released a video claiming responsibility for the abductions and threatening to sell off the girls. The United States and the United Kingdom have offered to assist Africa?s biggest economy to trace the whereabouts of the girls who got abducted on the night of April 14, 2014 in Borno State.
The US on May 7, 2014 sent experts, including the Military, to the West African country to help with the search.
Amidst the international concern and outrage, Nigeria?s President, Goodluck Jonathan, says his country?s security has no clue about the girls? location. His confession came two weeks after the girls? abduction.
Demonstrations and social media campaigns for the release of the girls have increased pressure on the Nigerian Government to appear to be doing something.
It is so incredible that Mr Jonathan waited for so long to announce to the world that his Government was helpless in the matter.
In other parts of the world, leaders will comment on incidents like this the very hour they happen. But not in Africa.
It is also amazing that both the country?s Defense and Interior ministers are still at post despite their failure to locate the girls.
I find it even more heartbreaking that the US and Britain that are considerably distant and less affected by the abduction of the girls, have rather shown tremendous support and commitment towards locating the girls. As an influential member of the Economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU), the least one expected was a show of concern from the two regional and continental blocs.
The best I have heard from ECOWAS is a belated March 6, 2014 letter from the bloc?s Chairman, Ghanaian President John Mahama, in which he pledged the group?s support to Nigeria. Practically who is better placed to help with the search for these girls? Must it be Nigeria, its neighbours, ECOWAS, the AU or the ?Whiteman?s? Britain or US?
The AU and ECOWAS are most certain to argue that they lack the expertise and resources to launch a search of this kind. But have they tried? Isn’t it possible for Nigeria?s neighbours to place their military on high alert? After all Boko Haram poses a threat to not only Nigeria but also the entire West African sub region. And the group will most certainly transport the girls by road if they were move them outside Nigeria.
I may not be a security expert but the solution to this problem appears obvious. I don?t think we must always rely on the West for help, especially with problems that we can muster resources within our means as a Continent, to fix.
Otherwise, we are better off bequeathing our sovereignty to our former colonial masters again.
I cannot think of a better time for the AU to convene an emergency meeting than now. Africa mustn’t wait for Boko Haram to decimate the most populous country and biggest economy on our continent before we starts taking pragmatic measures to deal with terrorism.
Just as a sneeze by Nigeria risks infecting the entire Continent with the flu, so will its destruction cause havoc to many African economies and democracies.
ECOWAS and the AU must therefore ?bring back our girls? now.
