Kate Henshaw says poverty drives kidnapping of students

Nollywood actor Kate Henshaw says until the Nigerian elite successfully stems the poverty menace bedeviling the society, incidents like the abduction of schoolgirls wont abate.

Nigeria has witnessed a spate of abductions of studentssince the country's return to democracy in 1999.

On April 14, 2014, terrorist sect Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in Borno State.

On February 19, 2018, the same sect seized 110 schoolgirls from Dapchi, Yobe State.

There have been several incidents of kidnappings involving secondary school students across the country as well.

46-year-old Henshaw whose first foray into politics was in 2015, says poverty, poor governance and rising inequality in Nigeria are the roots of the problem.

Lawmakers and jumbo pay

"We need leaders, lawmakers who care and citizens who remind them why they are there. You are there at the behest of the citizens. You didn’t go there on your own. People sent you there. So, you are there to represent them in the best way possible", Henshaw says in a chat with Pulse at our Lekki office.

"So, it’s not for you to go and do your own. All the allawee and all and then the minimum wage for civil servants is N18,000. What can N18,000 do in these times? Nothing!

"So people are going to look for other means. You need to get rid of poverty. That way everyone will be willing to work hard. You need to make the environment conducive. Let us have light at least. Just give us light.

Nigerians are very hardworking. They will work till their bone breaks. Give us light. Give us an environment where we can thrive and we’ll do the rest for ourselves. We have been doing it any way".

On Thursday, March 21, 2018, Boko Haram returned over 100 of the Dapchi schoolgirls.

Over 164 Chibok girls have so far returned home following negotiations between the federal government and the terrorists; with 112 still in Boko Haram custody.