200+ Nigerian girls for sale but who’s buying?

As you may have heard, on April 14^th members of the Islamist group Boko Haram abducted 276 girls from their boarding school in Chibok, Nigeria. On the 4^th of May a further 11 girls were abducted by the same group from a village in Borno state. It’s a heartbreaking and bewildering situation to say the least. One has to wonder how so many girls could be smuggled out of their school without a single staff member noticing. The Nigerian government’s nonchalant attitude has also been baffling. Reports emerged claiming that some of the girls have been married off to their captors and some have been sold into forced marriages for $12. The head of Boko Haram has since appeared on video proudly confirming that the plan is indeed to sell these girls, aged 12-18.

Most people including myself are, unsurprisingly, disgusted by Boko Haram’s actions. However, I can’t help but shift my attention to the men that have bought and will buy the abducted girls. What kind of a man literally looks at a girl as a piece of property to be bought and sold, in 2014 no less? I understand that for many people marriage is not about love and mutual respect. For some a husband is someone to provide financial stability and material goods. For others a wife is someone to take care of the household and bear children. But who in their right mind thinks it is OK to buy a wife, especially one that was stolen away from her family? These men are essentially buying slaves, not wives. They will treat the women as nothing more than sex slaves and domestic labourers. I shudder to think of the children born out of these unholy unions. How these men can justify participating in human trafficking and modern day slave trade is beyond comprehension.

I support the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign though I do have some reservations; I wonder just how much this social media campaign can last and question how much it'll achieve before it invevitably stops trending. The bigger issue is that we need to destroy Boko Haram (and all other harmful religious fundamentalist movements). The men who buy these girls must also be dealt with severely. Boko Haram has shown how easy it is for them to kill and abduct innocent people. If the girls are rescued they could probably just as easily abduct and enslave more girls. Bringing back our girls is a step in the right direction but much more needs to be done.