Recover the remaining Chibok Girls and others; charge the next Government with studying Tinubu;
Abuja's luminous Jannamike
Experts in the Media and public society have emphasised the chance for Bola Ahmed Tinubu's incoming administration to free the girls still held captive years after the Chibok girls were abducted, especially Leah Sharibu.
Following a media screening of a video about the lives of survivors, parents, and siblings of the Chibok girls' kidnapping yesterday in Abuja, the experts came to this conclusion.
They stressed that the incoming administration has a rare opportunity to make major headway towards locating the girls and that the abduction of the Chibok girls in 2014 remains a terrible memory for many Nigerians during a panel discussion reuniting them with their families.
The panellists also talked about how persistent pressure must be applied to the government to act swiftly in order to save the remaining girls.
They emphasised the need of media and civil society organisations working together to keep the matter in the public spotlight and advance the search for the girls.
In order to spur action for the girls' rescue, Adaora Sydney-Jack, a panellist and the executive director of Gender Strategy Advancement International, emphasised the necessity for the government to be more forthright in providing feedback and information.
""The gaps between the time the girls went missing and the social media mobilisation and attention by the traditional media were long, and in that time, other countries and the international media had already taken a turn to decide what angle the story should take," she said.
"The government has to interact with families and other stakeholders more frequently and with greater transparency. We require information on their actions and the procedures they are doing to retrieve our girls.
The Chief Executive Officer of Connected Development (CODE), Hamzat Lawal, a panellist who shared the same viewpoint, emphasised the significance of stakeholders continuing to instill a feeling of hope in the families and survivors.
"We need to maintain hope and push for action to ensure that this new government, and perhaps one way we can hold them accountable is that the person who has emerged as the next Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, was the governor when this happened," he said.
So perhaps he would respond to this call to action by using the infrastructure of the presidency or the Office of the Vice President.
The paucity of information available to Nigerians on the care of the rescued girls and their families concerned Murtala Abdullahi, a journalist and panellist.
We need to be aware of what the government is doing to assist the girls and their families, he continued. Nigerians need to learn more about the treatment and recovery of the rescued girls.
Bukky Shonibare, Executive Director of Invictus Africa and participant in the Bring Back Our Girls Movement, stressed in her remarks the importance of the media in drawing attention to the problem and making it a government priority.
The media must maintain public awareness of the problem and foster a sense of urgency, she argued. The government will treat as a priority anything the media highlights as important.
LEAH Foundation founder and panellist Dr. Gloria Puldu urged the media to be more resilient and to keep keeping the government responsible.
"We will continue to pressure the government to take further action and hold them responsible for their promises," she declared. Insuring that the government takes steps to rescue the remaining girls is crucially dependent on the media.
"We want to help you become more robust. Don't let the government undermine your efforts or silence your voice in any way.
