From the United Nations (UN), ActionAid, House of Representatives, religious, civil society groups and eminent Nigerians, including Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, the message was the same: ‘Free the Chibok girls.’

In a statement, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon said: ‘‘One year ago, over 200 girls were abducted by Boko Haram from their school in Chibok, Borno State, in north-eastern Nigeria.

“While some of the girls were fortunate to have escaped, the fate of many still remains unknown. We must never forget the kidnapped Chibok girls, and I will not stop calling for their immediate release and their safe return to their families.

Over the past 12 months, Boko Haram intensified its brutal attacks on boys and girls in Nigeria and neighbouring countries. Hundreds of thousands of children have been displaced from their homes, and deprived of their rights to live and grow up in safety, dignity and peace. Boko Haram’s killing, abduction and recruitment of children, including the use of girls as “suicide bombers,” is abhorrent.

“The legitimate response to Boko Haram’s attacks must be fully consistent with international law and not create additional risks for the protection of children. On this day, I reaffirm my support to the governments and peoples of the region in the fight against Boko Haram. I stand in solidarity with the families of all abductees, especially children, their communities and society at large.’’

Also, ActionAid has called on the Federal Government to intensify efforts towards ensuring safer schools for the girl child.

The Deputy Country Director, ActionAid, Ifeoma Charles-Monwuba, who stated this at a rally organised to mark the anniversary of the kidnapped girls, lamented that it was totally unacceptable that they have not been found one year after.

Stressing the need to have schools that are safe, she observed that, ‘‘at present, Nigeria does not have schools that are safe. We need to put in place appropriate sanitation facilities that do not allow girls to be molested.”

The House of Representatives yesterday asked President Goodluck Jonathan to intensify efforts at rescuing the abducted girls.

The House at the resumption of plenary session after the general elections, also urged the military to do everything possible to reunite the missing girls with their families.

Chairman of the House Committee on the Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa had in a motion introduced under matters of urgent public importance, lamented that it was unfortunate that exactly one year after the girls were abducted, there had not been any concrete information about their whereabouts, and whether they were dead or still alive, adding that Nigerians must not forget them.

Dabiri-Erewa in her submissions said the agonies and pains of the girls’ parents must be taken into consideration, and hence the need to intensify efforts by doing everything possible to rescue and re-unite the girls with their families, adding: “All hope is not lost.”

Speaker of the House, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, who presided over the session, had to halt debate on the motion. Describing the incident as “very emotional and dear to our hearts,” he noted that as a nation, “we must do everything humanly possible to recover the girls.”

In a statement, the Nasrul-lah Fathi Society (NASFAT) said: ‘‘We state that it is extremely disheartening and in fact places a moral and psychological burden on all Nigerians, particularly against the background of the circumstances of the abduction of the hapless school girls who were busy acquiring education in pursuant of one of the injunctions of Prophet Mohammed.’’

The statement signed by the group’s President Kamil Bolarinwa, added, “The world shares the pains and agony of the parents in view of their harrowing experience in the past one year.”

Soyinka also urged the incoming All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government to reinforce efforts towards bringing back the missing Chibok girls.

Speaking at a forum in Lagos, organised by the President of Women Arise, Dr. Joe Okei- Odumakin, to mark the anniversary, Soyinka said it was also imperative for Nigerians to join hands with the incoming administration to find the missing girls.

Also, Minister of Finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala has said that government was still committed to ensuring the rescue of the abducted Chibok girls.

Okonjo-Iweala made the pledge at a meeting with representatives of the Chibok community in Abuja yesterday, on the Safe School Initiative.

Soyinka charged Nigerians to join hands with government to ensure that the children were found.

According to him, “We must make sure that such assault on our humanity doesn’t happen again. The survival of humanity and of the nation must remain paramount.”

Also speaking, Prof. Pat Utomi said that humanity the world over was a shared one and that anything that diminished any human and doesn’t touch others was bad.

He said: “Terrorism is not something we should tolerate. We must confront terror and not sit in our homes complaining.’’

The minister, who was represented on the occasion by the Permanent Secretary in the Finance Ministry, Mrs. Anasthesia Nwaobia, said that the meeting was part of efforts to let the community know that the rescue of the girls, reconstruction of schools and making Chibok safe remained top priority of the government.

In a statement in Abuja, the Chibok Girls Ambassadors, said: “We have been demanding for the last one year but nothing is more remarkable than having peers of our missing schoolgirls carry out an exclusive activity for their cause. This is a generation that will grow with a well-developed sense of humanity, of standing for others, and also demanding accountability from their leaders.”
T
he statement, which was signed by Oby Ezekwesili and Hadiza Bala Usman, further said: “We thank Nigeria’s President-elect for his kind and soothing words on the occasion of this one-year commemoration where he promised, among other things, to do everything he can to #BringBackOurGirls when he becomes the president, if they are still alive. However, this does not address our concerns. We demand that the safe return of our girls be the top agenda of the transition between the present and the incoming one.”

To United Nations, the group reiterated their demands thus:
• That the UN should, through its relevant agencies, deploy relevant instruments in ensuring the prompt rescue of our Chibok girls and other abductees, as well as improve the security situation in the country;
• Escalate and process the request of the Chibok nation for the help of independent private investigators, among others.