World Takes to Social Media to Push Up Campaign for Release of Abducted Nigerian Girls

Nigeria: World Takes to Social Media to Push Up Campaign for Release of Abducted Nigerian Girls

9 MAY 2014

Three weeks since they were abducted, the world's attention has been fixated on the abduction of hundreds of school girls in Nigeria. The campaign for the release of the girls has now been taken to social media through the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.

Boko Haram, the rebel outfit operating in north eastern part of Nigeria is suspected to have abducted the girls.

In the 23 days since the girls first went missing, the hashtag has been shared over a million times, with many prominent people now joining the online campaign, with the latest being former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama.

It is believed that on April 19, 276 Nigerian girls were kidnapped from a school in Chibok in the Northern Part of Nigeria while taking their final exams. The girls were taken by members of Boko Haram who had disguised themselves as soldiers and forced the girls up into the back of trucks. Yet in the days that followed, appallingly little was done to help. The Nigerian military claimed it had rescued the girls only to retract the claim. The story barely registered with the international media.

Then, on April 23, Oby Ezekwesili, VP, World Bank for Africa, gave a speech in Nigeria in which she urged the government to intervene and "bring back our girls." Soon after, the hash tag #BringBackOurGirls came to be.Twitter users in Nigeria began to repeat her call, adopting the hashtag.

The celebrities across the world have joined on social media to ask for the release of the girls including by celebrities Kerry Washington, Chris Brown and Alicia Keys. On Sunday, Hillary Clinton tweeted, "Access to education is a basic right & an unconscionable reason to target innocent girls. We must stand up to terrorism. #BringBackOurGirls."

The hash tag was started off by Ramaa Mosa a Los Angeles director and mother of two and she has since created a facebook page too to amalgamate information about the story and give people suggestions about ways that they can take action. The page now has more the 43,000 likes.

The first lady, Michelle Obama also joined #BringBackOurGirls movement on Twitter and posted "Our prayers are the missing Nigerian girls and their families #BringBackOurGirls- mo"

Social media of late has been seen as a tool to help curb different menance and to call upon the world to unite in giving a hand.It has also been viewed as a tool that could either build or destroy a personality.Will the #BringBackOurGirls, really bring back our girls? only time will tell
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