The Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi) (Con)
My Lords, the Government have offered support, both bilaterally and with our international partners, in response to this horrific and heartbreaking situation. A UK advisory team, drawn from across government, arrived in Abuja on 9 May. It held a series of meetings with the Government of Nigeria and others to understand the situation and to see how the UK can help Nigeria both deal with this abduction and address longer-term challenges. My right honourable friend the Prime Minister earlier today announced further support.
Lord Bach (Lab)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her reply. However, is she aware that many parliamentarians, on all sides, find it extraordinary that in the month that has elapsed since this barbaric abduction Her Majesty’s Government have neither made an Oral Statement nor instigated a debate in either House? Why is today the first time—and only by luck of the draw—that we have been able to discuss what by any standards is a major issue for Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world, especially Britain, and then only for an absurdly short time this afternoon? Of course, we warmly welcome and support, as will the whole House, the action Her Majesty’s Government have taken in recent days but there seems to have been a gap of three weeks or more between the abduction and the Prime Minister’s phone call to President Jonathan on 7 May when no action seems to have occurred. Why was there that delay when speed of action was surely vital?
Baroness Warsi
My Lords, in the midst of this horrific situation, Her Majesty’s Government, and indeed this country, can be rightly proud of the fact that we were the first Government to offer assistance, which we did within hours of the incident. Within two days, the Foreign Secretary spoke to Foreign Minister Wali; we were the first country, along with the US, to send a team; we are leading the international effort; and Mark Simmonds, the Minister with responsibility for Nigeria, is in Nigeria as we speak. I am also pleased to repeat the Prime Minister’s announcement of earlier today that we have provided surveillance aircraft, a military team to embed with the Nigerian army in its HQ and a team to work with US experts to analyse information on the girls’ location. We are going beyond just military support by providing support and funding to the safe schools initiative spearheaded by Gordon Brown in his capacity as UN special envoy for global education. All noble Lords in this House can be rightly proud of the way that HMG have responded.
The Lord Bishop of Oxford
My Lords, would the Minister agree with the comments made by the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury last weekend to the effect that, however abhorrent we may feel the organisation to be, it is necessary to engage in some way with Boko Haram and to do that at different levels? If that is the case, would the Minister give some indication of what kind of support or encouragement the Government are giving to that dialogue between Boko Haram and the Government of Nigeria?
Baroness Warsi
The most reverend Primate’s comments about negotiations or discussions with Boko Haram are quite right and, as the right reverend Prelate says, they are certainly something which the Nigerian Government have to take forward. I know that he has a considerable history of dealing with this kind of situation in Nigeria and, indeed, of being involved in mediation processes. However, the message that HMG have been strongly sending out, along with our international partners, is that this is an abhorrent crime, that the girls must be returned unconditionally and that this is not something we need to feel that Boko Haram has negotiating power over. There is a longer-term challenge in relation to tackling Boko Haram but I am not sure that that needs to be done over the lives of these young girls.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Hill of Oareford) (Con)
My Lords, let us hear from the Cross Benches.
Baroness Cox
My Lords, is the Minister aware that, while the kidnapping of more than 200 girls at Chibok is unprecedented in scale, the brutal policy of kidnapping girls and subjecting them to forced marriage and/or conversion has been widespread across northern Nigeria’s Sharia states for years, sometimes with the connivance of local authorities? Therefore, while the rescue of these girls must be the urgent priority, will Her Majesty’s Government urge the Government of Nigeria to require all state and local authorities to ensure that this abhorrent practice is no longer tolerated anywhere in Nigeria?
Baroness Warsi
The noble Baroness is right: abductions are unfortunately not new in Nigeria, but the scale of the kidnapping at Chibok is clearly shocking. Through DfID, we have been working with Nigeria specifically on the education and protection of girls, especially in the northern region.
Baroness Warsi
My Lords, the Government accept that this matter has to be led primarily by the Nigerians, but it is quite right that we make offers of support, as we did right from the outset. However, it is for the Nigerian Government to accept those offers of support.
Lord Hughes of Woodside
My Lords, is the Minister aware that some of us in this House find it equally abhorrent that we should be talking about mediation with extremist groups such as Boko Haram, and that appeasement of such groups does not lead to peace but will encourage them to even greater atrocities?
Baroness Warsi
I think, my Lords, that I answered that question in a previous answer.
Lord Chidgey
My Lords, Nigerian Cabinet Minister Tanimu Turaki has said that,
“dialogue is a key option”,
in bringing this crisis to an end and that the issue can be resolved only outside of violence, yet his colleague the government information agency director Mike Omeri has said that authorities would,
“use whatever kind of action”,
it took to free the Chibok girls, and that a military operation with foreign help is possible. Given that the issues surrounding western education in Borno state arise from the Sokoto Caliphate, which fell under British control in 1903, what assistance is the UK considering in finding a long-term solution to these issues?
Baroness Warsi
My Lords, we have been working bilaterally through our regional CT co-ordinator, defence support, the high commission in Abuja, a small British military advisory training team, our own proscription of Boko Haram in July last year and with international partners to find a long-term solution, but I hope that the very clear message that we can send from this House today for those girls—from Abigail to Amina, from Hana to Halima—is simply this: bring back our girls.