Abuja:

The Catholic Diocese of Yola in Nigeria provided financial aid to 300 female victims of the Boko Haram Insurgency. The diocese initiative donated an amount of 30 million Naira to the beneficiaries of the insurgency in the country’s Adamawa State.

The bishop of the Yola Diocese Stephen Dami Mamza said that the initiative was aimed at empowering these women and girls to build up their sources of livelihood and also to encounter the loss they endured. The prelate added that the gesture was aimed at engaging them effectively within society so that they could help themselves and be financially independent.

Bishop Mamza said, “Forgiveness may not be easy especially when somebody remembers the horror and trauma that the Boko Haram insurgency has caused but for the sake of Christ, we have to forgive them.”

The Bishop expressed his hope that the aid would be used judiciously by the beneficiaries to improve their lives and also would give them a reason to live a normal life despite the sufferings they have undergone at the hands of the terrorists.

The Islamist armed group Boko Haram was founded by Muhammed Yusuf in northeastern Nigeria in 2002. The group has been carrying out acts of large-scale violence and assassinations in the country since 2009. They also noted that Boko Haram and ISIS-WA conducted large-scale attacks and abductions in the states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa.

According to a study published by the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs on Boko Haram and the Abuse of Women in Nigeria, it was mentioned that  Boko Haram exploits female vulnerability to promote its anti-western, jihadi agenda and the group victimizes women by subjecting them to rape, armed abduction, forced marriage, and captivity. They also noted that Boko Haram objectifies women by using them as instruments and objects of war such as sex slaves, human shields, and suicide bombers.

Boko Haram was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US State Department in November 2013.