The action of the Muhammadu Buhari government in stemming the tide of school children abduction has not yielded any positive results, Amnesty International, Nigeria, said on Wednesday.

Amnesty made the comment on the seventh anniversary of the abduction of over 270 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram insurgents.

“Tens of thousands of children in Nigeria are missing out on their education because of the authorities’ ongoing failure to protect schools, particularly in northern Nigeria, from attacks by insurgents and other armed groups,” Amnesty International said in a set of tweets.  

“Today marks seven years since 279 schoolgirls were abducted by the armed group Boko Haram in Chibok. Although most escaped or were later released, more than 100 girls remain in captivity. 

“Between December 2020 and March 2021, there have been at least five reported cases of abductions in northern Nigeria. The threat of further attacks has led to the closure of about 600 schools in the region. Whatever authorities are doing to tame this tide, it is not working.” 

On April 14, 2014, news broke about the abduction of schoolgirls, Nigerians and the world at large began a campaign: “#BringBackOurGirls” to demand for the release of the Chibok girls. Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s President at that time described the incident as a “painful” and “trying time for the country”.

In the lead-up to 2015 presidential election, Muhammadu Buhari, presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) vowed to defeat Boko Haram.

Buhari had criticised the Jonathan’s administration for its lack of “intelligence and analysis”, saying: “We believe that there is faulty intelligence and analysis. They ought to know [the location of] the Chibok girls, who have been abducted for more than 10 months now.”

Bring Back Our Girl, the frontline campaigner for the return of the girls, on Tuesday while announcing an Annual lecture to commemorate the abduction of the schoolgirls said 107 girls have been returned while 112 more are yet to reunite with their families.