Four girls out
of the 168 students of Government Girls Secondary
School, Chibok, Borno
State, that were abducted by Boko Haram in April, have escaped.
The Chairman,
Chibok Local Government Area, Mr. Bana Lawan, announced this on Tuesday
in Abuja at a one-day stakeholders meeting for validation of draft
humanitarian response plan for the abducted girls. The meeting was
organised by the National Emergency Management Agency.
Lawan, who was
represented by the Director for Personnel and Management, Mr. Musa
Elijah, said the number of escapees had risen to 57 as against 53, while
164 girls were still held by the terrorist group.
He said, “The
people of Chibok are anxiously waiting for the safe return of their
children. Except for the unfortunate situation where two of the parents
have passed on. They were known to have BP (blood pressure) issues,
although I am not a medical expert, but they will not be opportuned to
welcome back their daughters.
“Latest report
reaching us is that instead of 53, those that have escaped are now 57
and those remaining are 164 and not 168 as before. This is out of the
221 girls that were abducted.”
Lawan
explained that it was not all those who registered for the Senior School
Certificate Examination in the school that stayed back.
“Those that
registered for the SSCE are not all that sat for the exam. Over 500
registered and those who had relatives around decided to move to various
places like Kaduna and Maiduguri to write the exams. Those that were
left with no relations decided to stay back to take the risk and among
them 221 were abducted.”
The chairman said the moral of the girl child in the North-East was low as most of them were discouraged.
“The school in
particular has been existing for long and the quality of education in
it has been diminishing. So I want to appeal to the Federal Government,
through NEMA and the presidential committee, to intervene in rebuilding
the school,” he added.
Source:Punch Newspaper
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