We hope the girls will return to see and be part of their school again.
Nigeria's government on Friday said that work had begun to rebuild a school in the northeastern town of Chibok from where Boko Haram gunmen kidnapped more than 200 girls last year. As the Finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was there on thursday to lay the foundation stone at the Government Secondary School on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan, a statement from her office said.
Islamist fighters seized 276 teenagers on the evening of April 14 in a case that caused global outrage. Fifty-seven managed to escape but 11 months later, 219 are still being held captive.
Jonathan said in the statement: "We sympathise with the Chibok community. We know what you are going through.
"But I want to assure you that we are working day and night to make sure that life returns to normal both in your community and all others affected by terrorism."
The government was criticised for its slow response to the kidnapping and was pressured into accepting international help as a global campaign calling for the girls' release gathered pace.
Some of the girls were shown on a Boko Haram video released soon after the abduction, indicating that many of them had converted to Islam. While the Boko Haram leader also claimed the girls have been married out, but he didn't quite say whom they were married to.Its been so tragic since it looks like the search for the girls have come to a dead end, despite the country's most senior military officer claiming last year that their location was known but a rescue was too dangerous.
It was reported that In Chibok, more than 3,000 have been unable to return to classes since last year's abduction, and the president calls the situation "unacceptable".
A coalition of troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon has claimed a series of successes in recent weeks to secure and stabilise the northeast in time for general elections on March 28.We hope that will bring along freedom for our Chibok girls...
0 comments:
Post a Comment