It is a welcome relief that the kidnapped students and teachers of Oriire community have finally been released. However, their freedom should not be taken to mean that life has returned to normal for them. Many who have been freed by kidnappers become slaves of psychological trauma from their experiences of fear, humiliation, violence, uncertainty and helplessness during their ordeal. They must be given emergency, ongoing and professionally coordinated psychotherapy when they get back home.
We are blessed that the students and teachers have regained their freedom. The emotional agonies that many of us suffered, especially following the wicked slaughter of a schoolteacher is unimaginable. Many of being careless over the need to understand trauma and its scars.
What is now urgent is an immediate therapy. Kidnapped students and teachers of the Oriire community must receive long-term psychosocial support immediately following their release. Survival does not end physical captivity but begins mental captivity. After trauma, survivors may feel afraid, anxious, depressed, ashamed, jumpy, have bad dreams, feel unable to trust others, shut down emotionally, or have trouble concentrating. They may experience repeated memories of the violence and threats they endured. Children can act out inappropriately by being unusually quiet, aggressive, clingy, fearful of school, or unable to sleep at night. Teachers may feel guilty for being unable to protect their students or themselves and may feel helpless and experience severe post-traumatic stress. If teachers do not receive care from a professional, trauma wounds can fester and impair students’ ability to learn as well as their family life, social integration, and future wellbeing.
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It is a welcome relief that the kidnapped students and teachers of Oriire community have finally been released. However, their freedom should not be taken to mean that life has returned to normal for them. Many who have been freed by kidnappers become slaves of psychological trauma from their experiences of fear, humiliation, violence, uncertainty and helplessness during their ordeal. They must be given emergency, ongoing and professionally coordinated psychotherapy when they get back home.
Surviving kidnapping is traumatic. Victims can experience nightmares, panic attacks, depression and anxiety. They can feel emotionally numb, constantly fearful and suspicious. They also can have insomnia, poor appetite, trouble concentrating and flashbacks of the traumatic event. Some relate their experiences repeatedly. Others go out of their way to avoid people, places, conversations, or activities that remind them of the kidnapping. If the freed students and teachers experience some of these symptoms, they could have post-traumatic stress disorder and should not be dismissed as weak or suddenly overwhelmed. Religious support and family love can help but should not substitute for proper mental health treatment.
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Special attention should be paid to the students. Children and teens may not have the vocabulary to express what they are feeling. They may suffer in silence or may become aggressively violent. Others may start wetting the bed or become overly dependent. Poor grades and an unexplained fear of strangers are common. Some may refuse to return to school. Behaviour can also change drastically. Dump them into the classroom without any psychological evaluation and their trauma will be exacerbated. Their return to normalcy must be gradual and come from trained professionals, including psychologists, counsellors, social workers, and doctors.
Oriire might need communal therapy, too. Kidnapping traumatises victims, but it also harms the families, friends, classmates, colleagues, and neighbours whose lives are upended by fear and uncertainty. Community meetings, memorial services or thanksgiving celebrations, mental health education on security issues, and creating spaces for communal reflection can foster resilience.
Released teachers deserve special attention as well. They may experience guilt for failing to keep students safe; anxiety about returning to work; fear of another attack; or uncertainty about their careers. As parents and figures of authority, they may also struggle to ask for help or show emotions if they feel they need to be strong for others. Confidential counselling services and peer-support initiatives would help them work through their ordeal without stigma or guilt.
Trauma-informed health practitioners should conduct urgent examinations to check for injuries, infections, malnutrition, dehydration, and any other ailments. Survivors will also need one-on-one counselling, group counselling, family counselling, and long-term mental-health support. Parents and families should be counselled as well, and taught how to support survivors without pressuring them to talk about what happened, blaming them for their ordeal, subjecting them to media attention, or infantilising them.
Ideally, the government should collaborate with school administrators, community leaders, religious groups, public health agencies, and civil-society groups to create a coherent rehabilitation programme. Survivors’ privacy and dignity should be respected. Their names, photographs, and testimonies shouldn’t be traded for political points or clickbait headlines. Recovery will take time, safety, confidentiality, and trust.
Oriire might need communal therapy, too. Kidnapping traumatises victims, but it also harms the families, friends, classmates, colleagues, and neighbours whose lives are upended by fear and uncertainty. Community meetings, memorial services or thanksgiving celebrations, mental health education on security issues, and creating spaces for communal reflection can foster resilience.
Until the psychological needs of students and teachers are addressed, their freedom will be diminished. Therapy should not be seen as a privilege or as a sign of weakness. It is an integral component of rescue, relief, and justice. The government and security forces’ job will not be done until survivors are physically healthy, emotionally informed, securely reintegrated into their communities, and able to return to their daily lives without being haunted by what happened.
Toyin Falola, a professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at The University of Texas at Austin, is the Bobapitan of Ibadanland.
