100 days after, Chibok girls still in captivity.
Jul 23rd, 2014 by admin
The world continues to await with bated breath, hopefull for the safe return of the over 200 pupils of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, 100 days after they were kidnapped by the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram,
On April 15, 2014, Nigerians and, indeed, the rest of the world, woke up in the morning to the heart-breaking news of the kidnap of over 200 pupils of the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok. After a 100 days, there is still no information as to their whereabouts.
Some were lucky and were able to escape and fled into the bush. About three days after the incident, the Nigerian military reportedly released a statement claiming that more than 100 of the kidnapped girls had been freed. But the Army retracted the statement, almost immediately, when the principal denied the report.
In the past weeks , the President has met with Malala who was in Nigeria to join in the campaign for the freedom of over two hundred Chibok school girls abducted by insurgents
Malala urged the Federal government to increase the efforts being made on basic education as well as increase the budgetary allocation to education sector, as much as it can be increased
“And if the government want the future of this country to be bright and shining then they should increase the efforts they are making on education and they should increase the budgetary allocation to education, as much as it can be increased”
“Hopefully by the time I come back to this country I hope there would be zero number of out of school children in Nigeria. No child should be deprived of good education”. She added.
Recently, the European Union passed a resolution, calling for immediate and unconditional release of the abducted schoolgirls, saying it was “extremely concerned about Boko Haram’s active targeting of women and children as part of its bloody guerrilla campaign.”
Also, the EU described as “flagrant violation of fundamental human rights” efforts by the insurgents to deny children access to education.
The United Nations special envoy for global education and former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has also said said that the world must band together 100 days after the mass abduction of Nigeria schoolgirls to send the message that “we will not forget” the more than 200 children still in the clutches of extremists.
Brown, hopes the recent arrival of helicopters, night-vision equipment and other gear to aid in the search for the girls would yield a breakthrough.
A former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, who has been coordinating the activities of the #BringBackOurGirls coalition, said on Tuesday that as the campaign entered the 100th day since the abduction of the schoolgirls, Nigerians must continue to raise their voice to support the grieving parents.
Yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan met with parents of the girls, meanwhile 11 parents of the abducted girls have died.