Outcomes of the #BringBackOurGirls movement

Abstract

Abstract This chapter investigates the outcomes of the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) movement. The movement has produced consequential and multi-layered direct and indirect outcomes that transcend the rescue of the Chibok girls. The chapter also explores how the #BBOG advocacy inadvertently contributed to the rise of a social problem industry around the girls. This has led to the exploitation of the girls and their community. The forms of exploitation by both institutional and non-institutional actors are problematized. This chapter contributes to the literature on social movement outcomes and the sociology of social problems. A contextual seven-stage social problem industry model is proposed. The chapter enhances our understanding of how certain national and international actors seek to benefit from local struggles. The chapter also examines the question of the decline of the #BBOG. The chapter argues that the interplay of internal and external variables is catalysing the demobilization of the #BBOG. The #BBOG leadership was concerned about co-optation by the government. Therefore, the chapter argues, the #BBOG sacrificed pragmatism on the altar of ideological purity because of the particularities of its socio-political context. The implications of the findings for the perpetuation of social problems in developing countries and the efficacy of grassroots activism are articulated.