Since 2009, the Boko Haram insurgents started terrorizing the century-nurtured peaceful communities in Northeast Nigeria. The conflict raged and caused unprecedented destruction of lives and properties. At the peak of the insurgency, families were separated and forced out of their homes, structures were destroyed, adults and children went missing as a result. The insurgents made it a notable action to abduct women and girls. The retention of such women and children by the Boko Haram elements is one of the glaring traces of the conflict. However, the stories of these women kept changing even after escaping from the terrorists’ dens.
Efforts of security forces rescued many of the abducted women and girls while many escaped on their own. Despite this development, women who survived years of torment in captivity are coming out of the bushes without the government’s recognition and plans for their sustainable livelihoods.
Some of these women shared their stories, describing life outside the bush as without freedom, for they are facing another battle to survive diseases, lack of shelter, and hunger as they don’t have access to any form of support.
The Tragedy of Survival and Escape
As a victim of the abduction spree in the North-east, Aisa Sakava shared her experience “I was kidnapped together with my husband in Berawa community of Gwoza LGA. They took us to a place I cannot tell where exactly, but it was far from our home. The insurgents killed my husband in front of me three days after we arrived where they camped us”.
The old woman who could barely tell her age said, since that incident, her hopes of being alive or happy died together with her husband.
She narrated further that “Women of my age were camped under a very big stone (like a cave). I used to watch other women cry begging them to free us, but I can’t do the same, because I was hopeless. I only cry and do as they direct me (The insurgents) up until the time we got to escape.”
Aisa, who survived 8 years of captivity, is not the only woman who endured the torture for so many years.
Naana
Naana Mohammed, a mother of six, who was captured in Konduga LGA came out of the bush about eight months now, said that attempting to escape is a risk because the insurgents have gory punishment for those who dare to escape.
“It was at night when I and other women tried to run away. We didn’t have a watch to check the time, so we went out not knowing the day would soon break. We started seeing the sky becoming bright, and we decided to go back, but unfortunately, we bump into two of them [insurgents]. They took us to their leader, and our punishment was eighty (80) strokes of cane and for three days we would sit down watching how the sun will rise, its slow movement and how it will fall” Naana recalled.
Naana clarified that the incident happened about four years after she was captured and they didn’t attempt to run again until recently, when they succeeded after 8 years of stay with the insurgents in the bush.
“I and my children started running, we don’t know where we were heading to, it was at night, and I was afraid of bumping into them [the insurgents] or reptiles. Two of my children were sick, so I backed the small one, we sat down under a tree to pass the night knowing that we are a bit far from where they kept us,” Naana added.
Five Days Trek
Naana, 33, said they walked for five days before they started seeing people who were going into the bush to fetch firewood.
“With the children, I didn’t want us to walk in the dark, so we spent the nights wherever the sunsets were. I gave them some leaves (Yadiya) to eat as we don’t have any food with us. This is how we survived the five days until we started seeing people who were going into the bush to fetch firewood. We followed them and found ourselves in Kawuri (a small community outside Maiduguri) and someone helped us in his truck to the town,” Naana narrated.
Hardship Persists
The struggles to survive and escape from the hands of the Boko Haram insurgents is not the end of the plights of these women, as they came out of the bush stranded, with no family to return to, and no authority to beseech for support.
Naana narrated how she returned to search for her relatives in Fori, Jere LGA, but couldn’t find them.
“Upon our arrival to the town, I had to ask people around for directions, because everything had changed. When I arrived at Fori, I found out that my relatives are no longer at that place. My frustration at that moment is not about where to find them, but where I would spend the night with kids, we were very hungry,” she said.
“People were rushing for evening prayer (Magrib) I knocked on a neighbor’s door, she’s an elderly woman called Ya Hajja, and she was shocked to see me. She called my name “Naana” you are still alive? She let us in, and we spent the night there. I then told her everything that had happened and she said, ‘we can stay at her place,” she explained.
Ya Hajja, who helped Naana, stays in a single room with her four children and Naana has six children.
“The room could not accommodate us all, so my three children and I have to start using the zinc made room outside,” lamented Naana.
Fatima
30 years old Fatima Haruna, another woman, also strives daily to feed her seven children after surviving seven years of captivity also explained her side of the predicament.
She narrated that she ” used to work in people’s farms during the rainy season. They pay me 700 to 1,000 Naira. So, I used the money to buy corn and charcoal to make food for the children.”
Fatima lamented that the money is not always enough to sustain her and the children.
“The money is small, so I often allow the children to eat the food and I will take water till morning. It is even worse now that it’s not raining, because I had to start working where they are grinding corn. I get only a little amount from that,” she said.
A 2023 report by UNICEF shows that, out of the 17 million people who are food insecure in Nigeria, 3 million are in the northeast, specifically Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states.
Fatima explained that nobody knows about their escape and so they are not having any support.
“We have never received any help from the government, besides, no one even knows that we have escaped, so how are they going to help us?” she asked.
The Unending Trauma
“I am not a mad woman, but I always find myself running to hide whenever I heard any form of sound. I have been like this since I came out of the bush,” Aisa Sakava lamented.
The woeful experiences that are stuck in Aisa’s head, constantly remind her of all her sufferings, which leads her to develop a mental instability.
“It’s not my fault, but I remember everything out of my wish, I am still seeing my dead husband, the bush, and everything “.
In Fatima’s case, her distress is that she couldn’t sleep as a result of the voices inside her head.
“Whenever I close my eyes to sleep, I will be hearing the insurgents’ footsteps, telling me to wake up, and in shock, I will open my eyes. I have not been sleeping at night for quite a long time now. I only sleep while sitting during the daytime. And I easily get confused whenever I go a bit far from where we are staying now. I will be seeing the world turning around me, so I hardly get my way back home,” she explained.
Expert Explains
In an interview with WikkiTimes, a Senior Registrar at Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Maiduguri, Dr. Abdulhakeem Mamman Ngulde, speaks intensely on how traumatic experiences pre-expose an individual to mental illnesses.
“The consequences of an individual having direct contact with killings, assault and/or experience losing livelihood, is, no matter how strong the person’s resilience to resist such a situation is, it has the magnitude of affecting people’s mental health, most especially women looking at their vulnerability among other vulnerable groups.
“So, there are various forms of mental disorders that may arise as a result. Some in the short term and others in the long run, among these illnesses are depressive disorder, anxiety disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which is mostly associated with exposure to a traumatic event,” he explained.
“Getting startled, unpleasant dreams and constant anxiety is a typical sign that someone has developed a mental illness, probably Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).” the senior registrar noted.
According to a Dataphyte report, 81.3% of Nigerians have PTSD.
Dr. Abdulhakeem reiterates the need for new strategies on remote communities to reach out for survivors of mental health in the state.
“The state government needs to consider training primary healthcare personnel at the grassroots level, to build their capacity on how to manage the issues of mental illness so that such survivors can have access to psychosocial support. Also, the ministry of health can deploy experts to remote areas to identify and provide first aid support and if cases are complicated they can do referrals.” Dr. Abdulhakeem said.
No Hope for Support
The Director Youth Network of Civil Society Borno State, Mohammed Mohammed Alhaji, explained that the state government is aware of such survivors, but they are in a tight position to act in terms of empowerment.
“The state government sees the survivors in diverse angles, because there are survivors who were rescued by the military and the ones tagged as escapists. The ones rescued have a recorded profile and are empowered with sustainable skills for self-reliance, while the escapists are the ones who came out of the bush by themselves and the state government has no plans for them,” he explained.
Mohammad, noted that the government is very conscious and sensitive about issues of trust.
“The escapists are mostly individuals who voluntarily follow the Boko Haram sect, and the government has a responsibility to protect its citizens, which is why the government cannot take them in and empower them. However, with thorough verification and critical strategies the government and nongovernmental organizations can identify such survivors and support them as citizens of the state,” he added.
Limitations
The Project Manager, Life at Best Development Initiative, Jabani Mamza, noted that there are limitations towards supporting the survivors of the Boko Haram captivity in Borno.
“During our interventions in some of the host communities, our organization only works with information provided to them by the government, that’s documents that contain details of the rescued survivors that are re-integrated into the communities. So, those whose data has not been captured will not have access to the intervention” he said.
Jabani emphasized the need for the government to collaborate with CSOs, NGOs, and other organizations as alternatives to support the survivors.
“We are all serving humanity regardless of the agency or organization. So, it is important for the government to partner with all concerned, including community and religious leaders to collectively participate in easing the affairs of these survivors,” he stated.
This investigation is produced with support from the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability Project (CMEDIA) and funded by MacArthur Foundation
