NBM tasks FG on improved security, protection of school girls

The Neo-Black Movement of Africa (NBM) has urged the Federal Government and security agencies to beef up security around educational institutions, girl schools, in the Northern region of the country.

The group also asked the government to raise a special security outfit mainly to protect school girls nationwide.

In a statement, the movement’s president, Felix Kupa, following the recent abduction of 111 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Dapchi, Yobe State by Boko Haram insurgents, urged government to redouble efforts in ensuring the release of the girls and other kidnapped victims.

He also enjoined the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to end the insecurity in the land and ensure that the Nigerian child learns in an environment devoid of danger.

The statement reads in part: “The occurrences are a major security concern in Nigeria. Government should make sure that girls’ schools are safe. Ensure that they are getting quality education as well as see to the release of the other girls that are still in captivity.

“Though the Nigerian government is making considerable efforts to recover the school girls still in Boko Haram’s custody, we are concerned that the victims of this mass abductions have not benefited from comparable efforts to secure their release.”

NBM noted said that girls’ education was critical in the nation’s quest to right inequality and gender disparity, especially in the northern region.

It called for the release of the remaining Chibok girls as well as and other women and girls still held captive by the insurgents.

The Boko Haram sect had in April 2014 abducted 276 teenagers from their Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. Though some had either escaped or rescued by the military ever since, there are however others yet to regain freedom.

Consequently, the group tasked the government and security agents to do more in tracing the whereabouts and ensuring the return of others as well as reuniting them with their parents.