18/05/2014 Reporters

woman on the FA board accuses the league of a culture of sexism. Now

on BBC News, a special edition of Reporters on the Children of Chibok,

presented by Tomi Oladipo from the Nigerian capital Abuja. Welcome to

this special edition. I am here in the capital of Abuja. As we wait for

news of the captured schoolgirls, we have a range of reports from our

correspondents across the region. In this week's programme, the search

for missing girls. John Simpson travels to Borno state, whether

girls were abducted, finding growing anger against the Nigerian

authorities. This is pretty extraordinary. The governor and all

of the rest of us are being thrown out of here by the anger of the

crowd. How safe are Nigeria's schools? We speak to those in fear

of militants. Those wicked people are making me feel frightened. I am

scared to go to school. We speak to the group behind the abductions. And

bring back our girls, Will Ross speaks to the mothers of the

abducted girls, who are going through every parent's worst

nightmare. Whenever I think about her, I feel a deep sadness. I weep

day and night, and hope that God will answer my prayers. It is a

month since militants abducted girls in Nigeria and it has sparked

outrage across the globe. The authorities say that all options

have been considered to free them but there is no question of swapping

any of the girls for prisoners of the insurgency held by the

government. John Simpson travelled to Borno State and found growing

anger. 136 girls, most of whom were Christian until a month ago,

obediently chanted the first part of the Koran, dressed in Hijab. If you

look closely, not all of them are chanting. It is the first sighting

of them, and get more than half of the girls are not here. Either

because they refused to convert or for some other reason. We do not

know. One girl is led to the front of the crowd and told to give a

Muslim name rather than her Christian one. She is clearly

frightened. In the video, the leader, who is said to be

flamboyant, clever and mocking, launches into a long speech. He says

that the girls they are so concerned with have been liberated and have

become Muslims. This man is desperate for news of the girls. He

has made the dangerous journey from Chibok where they were kidnapped

here to Maiduguri. More than six of his relatives were taken. But he

cannot spot them in the video. This must be pretty shocking for you to

see. It is one of the most shocking moments I ever find myself in. This

is inhuman. It is not correct, it is unfair. There is no reason to push

the Islamic religion on them. Everyone has a right to choose. This

whole part of Nigeria is a Boko Haram territory, and to get around

it you need firepower and lots of it. We had 40 official vehicles

packed with armed men to guard us. We were going with the local

governor and heading into the scene of one of the worst attacks here. It

happened last week and it was scarcely reported, even in Nigeria.

This is hostile territory. The road we are on would normally be very

busy, but is almost empty. No one wants to drive along here after all

the attacks. We have been passing deserted villages because people are

scared of Boko Haram. After a couple of hours we reached the town. A

bridge outside of it had been blown up last Wednesday. But two days

earlier it was hit by an army. We counted hundreds of boat out cars.

They massacred 375 people. Again, almost unnoticed by the outside

world. The town centre was simply destroyed. The sheer scale of

destruction is quite extraordinary. I had not expected this. You have to

remember, all the attention around the world has been on the abduction

of the schoolgirls but this is going on all the time in this part of

Nigeria. The governor came here to offer help and money but the

survivors are working themselves into a frenzy of anger that the

Nigerian government should be doing so little to fight Boko Haram. The

government did not help us. I have two ask you, the crowd is getting

quite angry here. There is, of course, the dangers still. We are

going to compensate them all for their losses. Reassure them that we

are responsible for the security. Are you frightened of the attack? I

am not frightened. But there was no calming them. The Governor was lucky

to get away unhurt. This is pretty extraordinary. The governor and the

rest of us are being thrown out of here by the anger of the crowd. We

are having to get back to our cars pretty quickly. All of this anger is

not surprising. People feel utterly abandoned and cannot understand why

a world which cares so much about the missing schoolgirls seems to

care so little about the destruction of an entire town. The capture of

the schoolgirls has raised questions about the security of children in

Nigerian schools. Our correspondent went to a government school in Abuja

to hear how teachers and students feel about their safety. It is

become every school child's nightmare. Even here in the relative

safety of the Nigerian capital of Abuja, the thoughts of the children

are with their kidnapped colleagues. I feel really terrible because they

are girls like me. So no`one knows how they feel. Boko Haram, those

wicked people are making me feel scared and I do not want to go to

school. I am always afraid. Maybe they have not the same food. I feel

sorry for them and I always pray for them. Nigeria is a very big country

and goes like this are part of the reality as well. `` schools like

this. But the mass kidnapping in the north`east has served to highlight

the vicious war that is taking place between the Nigerian government and

the Coho ROM. `` and Boko Haram. They have attacked schools in this

area as well and so they have set up defences around their charges. The

schools are spent. Unlike before, the schools were not fenced. We have

students checking in and out. All visitors and outsiders as well. The

boarding school which was attacked in north`eastern Nigeria would have

needed more than strong fencing. It is in the middle of a war zone. Boko

Haram means western education is a scene. The leader of this union says

hundreds of members have been killed in the Islamist group. These people

will just come from nowhere and target teachers. They are the ones

pushing education. This group does not want that. What they want is

Arabic education. You want to give this education to the young ones.

They are enemy number one. It has come to this. Part of Nigeria are

not safe for schoolchildren or their teachers. The fate of the girls has

sparked worldwide interest and a campaign to free them and has

focused attention on Boko Haram. As Nigeria marks its first anniversary

of a state of emergency against them, we explore what we know about

the Islamist group. More than 100 Nigerian schoolgirls seen this week

for the first time since their abduction, the latest incident in a

campaign of violence. So who are Boko Haram? This man took on the

leadership in 2009, steadily increasing the level of violence. He

took over after the former leader was killed by government sources. He

took over with the aim of creating an Islamist state in the north of

the country. The name of the group loosely translates as" Western

education is forbidden" , opposing outside influences in Nigerian

culture. Are domestic terrorists. `` they are. Their aims are to upset

and undermined the Nigerian state. Starting off with lone gunmen, have

evolved and killed thousands in recent years. Tactics against the

government have not been very effective. I think the group has

become more bold and more sophisticated. The girls were taken

from this town in the northeast of the country, a stronghold for Boko

Haram. For the past year, there has been emergency rule in three states

trying to cope with their violence. Boko Haram draws local support from

the ground with those in poverty who lack education and have ample

funding. At present they have very diversified funding. They are

involved in a number of criminal activities including bank

robberies, and possibly drug trafficking and people smuggling.

They kidnap people for the purposes of extortion and are possibly

getting support from local businesspeople. They are also

getting funding from Al`Qaeda. Estimates of the number of fighters

range from the hundreds to a few thousand. They may be some links ``

their to Al`Qaeda but it is primarily domestic. There are fears

that the insurgency will spread across the borders of Nigeria. Many

have fled to Niger to escape the violence. The insurgents may be

paying to recruit fighters from there. There is little comfort to

take from a sand storm but at least it feels safe here. These Nigerian

refugees were pushed over the border after Boko Haram rated their

village. Nigerians are fleeing I boat. `` by. It is estimated that

thousands crossed into new share each week. This man arrived last

month with his wives and children. TRANSLATION: I was going to bed when

we heard the first gunshots. When we ran to escape, a little girl was

shot as she fled her burning house. He says he counted 50 dead in the

streets. It is a growing refugee rights as but without camps. It is

feared that they could become recruitment centres for Boko Haram.

They have shown that they can hit the Nigerian state in different

ways. Attacking schools and abducting children, burning villages

and much more. Their neighbours are dealing with the consequences of

this violence and the threat of it spilling over is becoming a question

of not if, but when they will strike your. The border is constantly

patrolled and several attacks have been carried out over the past

month. Several men with links to Boko Haram have been arrested. We

have made contact with a local gang who claim they are in contact with

Boko Haram. They agreed to talk to us but demanded that we do not show

their faces. They told us that five of their group have joined the

Nigerian militants and some have already been killed. TRANSLATION:

Some of us are with them now and we give them information about what is

going on. I come to us and we informed them. It they told you to

launch an attack here, would you be ready to do that? Yes, we are ready.

We have no job and so we are ready. That is what we are here for. Boko

Haram have paid them ?2000 to join their insurgency. It is the cash

they are interested in. They have no interest in Sharia law. This region

is fragile and is now threatened ID crisis next door that is fueled by

poverty and neglect. `` by the. Nowhere in Nigeria is now safe from

Boko Haram. But they have also carried out attacks in distant

cities including one two years ago in which 185 people were killed. The

town is still struggling to return to normal. This is what this town is

known for, its trade is primarily in textiles and it has become a major

commercial hub. Now it's state this has been threatened by the upsurge

in violence in recent years. The bloodshed has mostly been in the

north but business has dipped since the attack two years ago. Our

business has gone down and customers do not want to come. They are afraid

to come here. For some it is not possible. Some come through the

border and it is very difficult to get through. It might not be under a

state of emergency but the effects of the violence are clearly being

felt here. It has suffered its own incidents of violence and that has

prompted widespread caution in this centre of commercial of at ``

activity. This group is made up mostly of volunteers, most nominated

by their own neighbourhoods to joined this unit which has become a

part of the fight against Boko Haram. They might have the firepower

but they are armed with information which the permit may not have. We

help them in terms of information gathering. We give them vital

information so that we can curtail the issues. We are assisting greatly

and for some time, Boko Haram has come to realise that we are

assisting police. I have killed some of our members but we cannot

relent. There is no song and dance in the worst affected areas. The

violent campaign of Boko Haram will undoubtedly result in more

bloodshed. The schoolgirl abduction * every parent's worst nightmare.

The parents of the girls field powerless `` feel and our `` are

angry at the lack of action by the government. They are in agony not

knowing the fate of their abducted doctors. TRANSLATION: Since they

were taken away, it has been very difficult for us. Many have come to

sympathize with us. Our family stayed awake all night. We wonder

what they are going through and where they are being held. When my

daughter was leaving for school she told me that she would come back

soon and I gave her the money for transport and said goodbye. I was

told that she had been abducted. Since our children were abducted,

life has been difficult for us. We do not sleep well. Most of us fell

sick. I am suffering from high blood pressure. We hardly eat because of

this situation. The president of Nigeria has been accused of not

doing enough to rescue the girls. Seeing as the president admitted

that the girls had not been located let alone rescued, demonstrations

are unlikely to die down. As each day goes by the international

outrage is growing stronger. Beyond putting pressure on the government

to talk about the missing girls, there is no evidence to suggest that

the parents are any closer to getting their children back. My

doctor is a very obedient and hard`working child. `` daughter.

When I think about her I feel a deep pain. We pray day and night and hope

that God will answer our prayers. The mothers of the girls have

already been on the streets and say that no one has said a word to them

about rescue efforts. Perhaps that is why they put their faith in God

and not in government. That is all from this special edition of

Reporters. Goodbye for now. The highest temperature over the

weekend was 23.9degreesC. If you wondering weather or not this was

warmer than other places in Europe Tommy yes it was. ``, . The