A decade after Chibok kidnappings, Nigeria struggles to halt child abductions

Jihadist group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls on the night of April 14, 2014, from a school in Chibok, some 80 of whom have never been freed. Hundreds more children have since been abducted, with the Nigerian government seemingly powerless to stop the militants and criminal gangs behind the kidnappings.

Ten years ago, Solomon Maina's daughter, Debora, was one of 276 schoolgirls kidnapped from their dormitory in the middle of the night by Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist militants.

Global outrage was swift. A ubiquitous "Bring Back Our Girls" campaign, drawing support from the likes of Michelle Obama and Sylvester Stallone, shined a spotlight on the abductions. Then, in 2016 and 2017, negotiations led to the highly publicised liberation of around 100 of the captives.

Debora was not one of them.

A decade after that fateful night in April 2014, the world has largely forgotten the plight of the so-called Chibok girls.

But for the victims and their families, the tragedy is ongoing.

"Especially at night, I think about my daughter," Maina, in tears, told Reuters in an interview at his home in Chibok, a Christian enclave in the West African nation's majority Muslim north. "I will never forget her."

Abductees who have returned home have struggled to resume their interrupted lives. Some are raising children fathered by their captors. Others have waited years for funds promised by the government to continue their education.

Those who spent the longest time in captivity have often had the most difficulty reintegrating with civilian life.

"I think about this all the time."

Read more on FRANCE 24 English

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