Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has assured United Nations’ Special Envoy for Global Education, Malala Yousafzai, of federal government’s unrelenting efforts to ensure the safe return of the remaining Chibok girls still held by insurgent group, Boko Haram.
The assurance was contained in a letter signed on Buhari’s behalf on January 10, 2017, by Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.
It was in response to a letter written to Buhari by Malala on January 6, for female education, reminding government of need to ensure the safe and speedy return of the other missing girls as part of activities to mark the 1,000 days of the kidnap of the girls.
Buhari assured Malala of sustained negotiations to free the remaining Chibok schoolgirls by Nigerian military, state security service and the other security agencies.
The statement, however, said Buhari would not divulge the details of ongoing negotiations to secure the release of the girls to Malala due to the sensitive nature of the negotiations,
Part of the letter read: “Rest assured, however, of the doggedness, commitment and sincerity of the Federal Government of Nigeria towards ensuring the safe return of the Chibok girls, and indeed all others still in captivity.’’
The president further recalled that the valiant act of Nigerian troops fighting the Islamic insurgent group in their North-east bastion resulted in the capture of Sambisa forest, the last stronghold of the Boko Haram elements, who kidnapped the girls from their school dormitories in Chibok in April 2014.
He also assured Malala of government’s desire to take over the responsibility for the education, personal and professional aspirations of the 21 Chibok girls that were released in October last year for the rest of their life, saying that in tune with his vow that Boko Haram would not be considered defeated without the rescue of the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons still taken hostage by the insurgency group.
‘’They are being given comprehensive medical, nutritional and psychological care and support, and anyone who has seen them in recent times will attest to the fact that their reintegration back to the society is progressing well. The federal government believes that it is not too late for the girls to go back to school, and everything will be done to ensure that they continue the pursuit of their studies,’’ he assured.
Buhari commended Malala for her unflinching disposition towards the release of the rest of the girls in captivity and those who have regained their freedom, adding: ‘’There is no better example of the fact that we are all linked by our common humanity.’’
Malala, the co-founder of the Malala Fund, was in 2012 shot and left unconscious by the Taliban for spearheading the human rights advocacy for education and for women in north-west of Pakistan, against the order of the Taliban, which had banned the girls from attending schools.
Her gallantry attracted international attention which prompted the United Nations to appoint her a Special Envoy for Global Education in addition to her being conferment with a Nobel Prize.
