Ezekwesili laments girls’ abduction four years after Chibok

Former Education Minister, Obiageli Ezekwesili, has expressed dismay over the recent kidnap of schoolgirls from Dapchi in Yobe State, four years after the abduction of Chibok girls.

Speaking at a leadership event organised by Pastor Taiwo Odukoya of Fountain of Life Church in Lagos, she said: “Twenty-nine secondary school boys were killed and burnt by the same terrorists in a school.

Basically, these people were saying to the government, ‘What can you do?’ How can the government allow this to happen without consequences? I was focused and was saying to the government, ‘You must do something and you must know that there are consequences for bad behaviour.’”

The Bring Back Our Girls co-convener called for a review of government policies to guarantee efficiency. While stressing that governance issues are not complete without the people, she said: “It is impossible for your public procurement system to be loose and you would expect any form of development.

If your public procurement system is ineffective and corrupt, it will provide incentive for the accumulation of wealth. But if you tighten your procurement system, the ones who want easy money will not be the ones who run into politics.”

Ezekwesili said: “To prevent a nation from dying, leadership should be considered as gender neutral.