By MagnaFaith Krimi
Senior Editor, WarDesk News
Driven by a strong passion for humanity and a mindset of selflessness along with a religious background, I was raised in Katsina State in North West zone of Nigeria. I became a good listener and showed empathy with people’s situation. The consistency of my willingness to serve and not be served has allowed me organic-focused growth and an awareness of the challenges a girl-child faces in developing societies. Diverse subjects like women’s leadership, violence against women, and messages of women’s emancipation and empowerment have become my focus as I am committed to using my western education and experience to ensure the voices of the vulnerable are heard and to empower women.
There is now an increasing and widespread recognition that President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to take control of the security situation in Nigeria. I am alarmed by the strikingly high number of unarmed and defenseless women being raped, kidnapped and killed in Nigeria, and especially that this horrific trend continues to worsen. Conflict affects development, however it chiefly impacts the lives of women and children. According to Tomori Uriel, student of Mass Communication at the University of Ilorin “the experiences of women and young girls have been so infelicitous till now”. This further legitimizes my deep concern regarding the continuous disadvantageous treatment towards women and young girls in Northern Nigeria.
While the anxious thoughts in my head were deafening when I came face to face with Rebecca Sharibu the mother of Leah Sharibu, a sixteen year old girl held captive by Islamic Jihadists in Nigeria and remains a prisoner because she won’t renounce her christian faith. I realized that women and girls are critical voices for peace and tolerance. Rebecca Sharibu a Northern Nigerian woman experienced firsthand what Boko Haram did to her people. I can tell you that by working with Rebecca Sharibu and the International Commitee on Nigeria who recruited me to lend my voice as a diaspora leader, I was able to see firsthand how this terrifying incident affected the local society and the people inhabiting them. You may have seen these women and children on TV, consider volunteering in an internally displaced camp, you will see the feeling of dread and foreboding that affects these victims physically as well as mentally.
With substantial available evidence showing denial of education for girls, sexual exploitation, trafficking, discrimination against women and girls, child marriage, violence against women, economic exploitation, inaccessibility to justice system amongst other vulnerabilities, the complicity of the diaspora inadvertent or not, in their unwillingness to speak where all of us need to engage and confront the threats that lie ahead. Seeing, the significance of what Archbishop Tunde Adeleye said that Buhari’s close aides and appointees had deceived the president to fail. Then, duty bearers, civil society and stakeholders in the diaspora must face our fears, lead the fight in speaking against injustices and amplify the voices of the most vulnerable Nigerians and individually and collectively work to dismantle drivers of vulnerability and marginalization. We must push our government and power holders to guarantee the rights of every Nigerian and make determined efforts to tackle the critical problem of killing with impunity per the outcry of vast majority of Nigerians on the continent of Africa.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
