One month ago today, extremists in northern Nigeria abducted nearly 300 schoolgirls in an unconscionable act of terror. The leaders of the group responsible, Boko Haram, are selling the girls into marriages, forcibly converting them to Islam, and using them as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Nigerian government. It is believed the girls are today being held in a dense forest roughly the size of the state of West Virginia that straddles a porous and ungoverned border with three other countries.
Despite being forewarned of a possible attack, reports now indicate that the local and central government did nothing to protect them when told an attack was imminent. Parents should not have to be afraid to send their children to school. No child should live the horror these girls have experienced, and no family should have to confront these threats alone.
Unfortunately, these are not the only families who have suffered at the hands of Boko Haram. The same day as these abductions, 75 more people were killed and 100 wounded in a bombing of a bus station in the Nigerian capital city of Abuja. More than 300 people were murdered during a Boko Haram attack in Gamboru just last week. According to Amnesty International, Boko Haram has killed more than 4,000 people in the last three years, including 1,500 people in the last year alone.
I want to welcome my partner in the Africa Subcommittee, Senator Flake, as well as Chairman Menendez, Ranking Member Corker, and other members of the Committee as we look at the response to the kidnappings and consider the grave and growing threat presented by Boko Haram.
This subcommittee last met on Nigeria in 2012, when we considered the persistent divides between the north and south in economic potential, governance, education and social services, and the very real security challenges created by these differences. Nigeria is an important partner in the region, but Boko Haram has capitalized on pervasive corruption, poor governance, and growing levels of poverty in the North to undermine both domestic and regional stability. Boko Haram – whose name means “Western education is sin” – targets public institutions, churches, and schools, and children are the frequent victims of its vicious attacks.
As New York Times columnist Nick Kristof wrote just last weekend, “The greatest threat to extremism isn’t drones firing missiles, but girls reading books.” The schoolgirls from Chibok in Nigeria demonstrated great courage returning to school to take their final exams in the face of an explicit terrorist threat from a group that targeted them simply because they sought an education.
Boko Haram is trying to send a message, and the world – starting with the Nigerian Government – must respond by saying their crimes will not be tolerated and perpetrators held accountable.
We’re holding this hearing, in part, because of the outpouring of concern from my constituents and millions of Americans. The “Bring Back Our Girls” hashtag, which some pundits have mocked on talk radio and cable television, has been mentioned more than 3 million times on Twitter. Those tweets — those posts on Facebook and Instagram — were from people trying to get our attention and trying to make sure the United States is doing everything it can to help the Nigerians bring these abducted girls home. Those people deserve to know: we hear you and we share your goals.
Every day that these girls are missing, it becomes less likely that they will be returned home safely. It took too long for the Nigerian government to respond to the girls’ abduction. It took too long for the Nigerian government to accept offers of assistance from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and China, and once accepted, it took too long for that assistance to be implemented. I’m glad a U.S. team is on the ground now, and we need to make sure that not another day is wasted.
We cannot stand by while Boko Haram viciously attacks Nigerian citizens, their freedom, their security, and their right to an education.
So in this hearing we will discuss the response of the Nigerian Government to Boko Haram, both before and after the abduction. We will discuss what the U.S. can do and is doing to help in response to the abductions and in confronting Boko Haram. Finally, we will consider the regional implications of this growing threat, and what action could be taken by Cameroon, Chad, and Niger to ensure the girls are not taken across the border and to minimize the growing regional threat.