Chibok Girls: Ndume charges FG to brief Nigerians on rescue efforts

Former Senate Majority leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, has called on the Federal Government to initiate regular public briefings on the efforts to rescue the remaining 112 Chibok girls in Boko Haram captivity.

Senator Ndume made the call yesterday in Abuja while speaking on the seventh anniversary of the kidnap incident marked on Wednesday, April 14.

Over 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped from Government Secondary School, Chibok town, Borno State on April 14, 2014. While over 100 of them were rescued at different times, 112 still remain missing.

Ndume said: “It is seven years since the Chibok girls were abducted. Up till today, 112 of them are not accounted for. We hear stories but I am glad that the government issued a statement that they have not forgotten and that they are following the case.

“But I want to call on the government to be giving the parents and the public update either on monthly or quarterly basis on the efforts they are making so that we will know what is going on.”

He stated that the Federal Government should identify the parents of the remaining 112 missing girls so that through the Borno State government or any other channel, it could be in touch with them and also assist them psychologically.

Ndume further called on the Federal Government to allow the Borno State government to rebuild the destroyed Chibok school where the girls were kidnapped and to deliver other necessary infrastructure in the area.

“The Federal Government, up till now, seven years after the school was destroyed, that school has not been rebuilt after the Federal Government took over and the Safe School Initiative where money was set aside – big money – nobody is talking about that. The Federal Government has not fulfilled its promise.

“In fact, the state government is now struggling to take back the school from the Federal Government in order to rebuild it. And then, there is a critical road that facilitated the running away of these (Chibok) girls – the 40-kilometre-long road between Chibok and Damboa. It has been in the Federal Government’s budget since I came to the National Assembly 18 years now. The Federal Government could not finish it and that road is a critical access because if there is no accessibility, the military or the security agencies cannot be effective.

“So, these are the things we are calling on the Federal Government to look into as a matter of urgency or national importance because the issue of Chibok girls and the issue of Chibok itself and the parents of the girls stick in the mind of not only Nigerians but also the international community. The earlier the Federal Government does something in terms of providing more information as to the efforts that they are making, the better for all of us,” Ndume added.