Nigeria's Stolen Girls, Clueless Leaders
For almost three weeks, Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan did not call for outside assistance in the search, even though it was offered by the United States and others.
He seemed to be far more focused on preparations for the World Economic Forum for Africa that he convened Wednesday (May 7) in the capital, Abuja, itself the scene of two Boko Haram bomb attacks in recent months.
Ironically, Jonathan's efforts to downplay the kidnapping crisis might have worked better in the days before Nigeria became the sort of global economic power that he is trying to expand.
Nigeria's oil-rich economy this year official passed South Africa and Egypt to become the continent's wealthiest nation. The summit is expected to attract billions of new investment dollars to Nigeria, whose economy grew by 6.7 percent in 2012, boosted by e-commerce, telecommunications, music and "Nollywood," the country's bustling movie industry.
Money attracts money, but the new global economy also attracts transparency, especially in the Twitter age. As their government let them down, Nigerian civil society and social networks gave the world a new model of digital-age activism.
Women's rights advocates, including mothers of the kidnapped girls, rallied in four Nigerian cities. Social media popularized the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, which was started by a Nigerian lawyer.
By the time First Lady Michelle Obama joined the Twitter crusade, world outrage grew loud enough for Nigeria's president to hear it. Jonathan announced he had accepted offers from the U.S. to help in the search. Better late than never, I hope.
Boko Haram wants to draw attention to their supposedly Islamic cause, but they mainly display the worst of Africa's past (tribalism, fanaticism, primitivism, sexism...) as the continent struggles to enter a new global economic future.
As Nigerians and other Africans become more educated and empowered by their own possibilities, it is their leaders who will have to rush to catch up.
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E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.
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