President Goodluck Jonathan has \u00a0urged owners of boarding schools in the country, especially those in the North East, to provide at least some basic\u00a0security for their students.<\/p>\n
This came as the \u00a0Chairperson of the Presidential Fact Finding Committee on the abducted Chibok girl, Ibrahim Sabo, \u00a0revealed that a total of 219 girls are still missing.<\/p>\n
Sabo, who disclosed that a total of 276 girls were abducted by members of the Boko Haram Sect, said 57 of the girls escaped while 219 were still unaccounted for.<\/p>\n
On his part Jonathan \u00a0noted that the insurgents were able to operate unhindered because there was no security arrangement at the Government Girls Secondary School, GGSS, where the girls were kidnapped on April 14.<\/p>\n
Jonathan spoke when he received the report of the Presidential committee on Chibok school gorls in Abuja, Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me charge everybody, whether corporate bodies, federal and state governments or individuals that own especially in the north east, that if we must keep students in hostels there must be some basic security that should be provided,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
President Jonathan had set up the fact finding committee on May 2 to gather information surrounding the abduction and to ascertain the exact number of students abducted amongst other terms of references.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. President, the committee here wishes to lay to rest any residual doubt whether or not any student was abducted at Chibok,\u201d he said. \u201cAs most Nigerians already know, there were some persons who doubted whether in fact any student was abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok. On the other hand, for those who believed that there was an abduction, there were lingering doubts as to how such a number of kidnap victims were conveyed, considering also that information was sparse as to how the raiding insurgents evacuated the victims.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the siege on the school, 119 students escaped from the school premises, before the insurgents took away their classmates.
\n\u201cA total of 276 students were thus abducted. As of today, 57 of the abducted students have been reunited with their families after escaping along zig-zag transport route taken by the insurgents or by bolting to safety when the insurgents laid for a rest. Sadly 219 students remain unaccounted for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr. Sabo also revealed that in the committee\u2019s interactions with four of the girls who regained their freedom and their families, the girls were hesitant to discuss the full details of their experience, citing\u00a0the fear of possible reprisals from Boko Haram elements.<\/p>\n
He noted, however, that the committee received the full cooperation of the people and interacted with different stakeholders considered relevant to the fact finding mandate but with an exception.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe singular exception was a senator from Borno, who after agreeing to an appointment with the Committee, turned around to avoid the meeting on the excuse that he had another appointment and would thereafter be unavailable for one month or so.
\n\u201cNot that his non-appearance has materially or in any way affected the outcome of the committee\u2019s findings, but the senator\u2019s avoidance of an interface with the committee may well speak to a motive not too difficult to discern,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The chairman also noted that though Nigerians and the rest of the world have been galvanised to drum up support for the freedom of the Chibok schoolgirls, little could be achieved through finger-pointing.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting the girls out and safely, too, is by far more important than the publicity generated by the blame game that has tended to becloud the issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said that the committee had begun the process of mobilising the communities, but it was still an unfinished business. He said to achieve a more worthwhile outcome, more time and a more compact team would be required.<\/p>\n
The committee also advised that in order not to jeopardise the on-going rescue efforts and also the possibility of compromising national security matters, the report should be treated with utmost\u00a0confidentiality.
\nMr. Sabo noted that this, however, did not preclude government from releasing information that may be useful for a better public understanding of issues surrounding the abduction saga.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Goodluck Jonathan has \u00a0urged owners of boarding schools in the country, especially those in the North East, to provide at least some basic\u00a0security for their students. This came as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n