President Muhammadu Buhari has approved payment of N164.7m second-semester school fees for 106 Chibok girls currently schooling in the American University of Nigeria, AUN, Yola, a statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu has revealed.
The Chibok girls, it will be recalled was enrolled in the school after eight months of rehabilitation.
But the President who had expressed his commitment to personally monitor the rehabilitation and reintegration of the girls into society, while receiving their progress report, weeend, gave assurances that government would provide full support for their education.
This is just as he renewed his commitment to ensuring that all the Chibok girls still held hostage by the Boko Haram terrorists are returned to their parents safely.
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The President, however, restated his earlier commitment to pursue other avenues in addition to military action to free the abducted girls.
The President also restated his resolve to protect the lives of all Nigerians and end the insurgency in the northeast of the country in fulfilment of the campaign promises.
“In line with this, the Federal Government entered into negotiations with the Boko Haram Terrorist group for the release of the Chibok girls who were kidnapped from their school dormitory on the night of April 14, 2014,” Shehu said.
So far, two batches of 21 and 82 girls have been freed as a result of those negotiations, while additional girls were rescued by the gallant efforts of men of armed forces, bringing the total number of freed Chibok girls so far to 106.
As a result of their experiences while in captivity, the freed girls who were severely traumatised and afflicted by various ailments and injuries were taken to secure medical centres for attention. They also went through debriefing and de-radicalisation by security operatives, after which the girls were handed over to the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.
As part of the rehabilitation efforts, Federal Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Development was assigned the main role in supervising the rehabilitation and reintegration of the girls back into society.
The Statement stated that Federal Government had established the ‘Chibok Girls Desk’ in the ministry, responsible for acting on matters relating to the abducted Chibok schoolgirls, and serving as a channel of communication between relevant agencies and the parents and relatives of the abducted girls, long before they were released
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The government also, through the ministry of women affairs and in collaboration with the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, UNFPA, UN Women, and other donor agencies, embarked on programmes earmarked to facilitate the rehabilitation and reintegration of the Chibok girls with a nine-month time frame.
A hostel in the National Centre for Women Development was converted into a suitable shelter, where the girls were kept for the nine-month period. The programme, which began in January 2017, ended in September 2017. During the period, the 106 girls were given lessons in English, Mathematics, Biology, Agriculture, and Civic Education. Also, they were trained in ICT and vocational skills. Professionals were engaged to provide them with psychosocial therapy and one-on-one counselling to help them overcome post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They were also provided with religious instruction and comprehensive care by two in-house doctors and two nurses. Periodic visits from the girls’ parents to stimulate family support and reunion were sponsored and organised by the ministry.
Following the successful rehabilitation and reintegration programme, with recorded significant improvement in the academic performance of the girls, the Federal Government in September, this year, moved them into the American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola for their foundation studies and continuation of their education.
The AUN had successfully established a foundation school for 14 out of the 57 Chibok girls who escaped while the rest of their classmates were taken to the Sambisa forest by Boko Haram.
Shehu noted that the “absorption of the 106 girls into the school marked the beginning of their integration into the larger Nigerian society, thus fulfilling President Buhari’s promise of providing the best education for them. Although they have been officially handed over to their parents. The Federal Government will continue to be responsible for the payment of the Chibok girls’ school fees right up to their graduation from the school.”
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
