What we’re doing about Chibok girls’ release – FG
The Federal Government has assured the international community that it
is working with its Swiss partners and others, on daily basis, to track
and secure the release of remaining abducted Chibok girls still in
captivity.
The Federal Government has assured the international community that
it is working with its Swiss partners and others, on daily basis, to
track and secure the release of remaining abducted Chibok girls still in
captivity.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed
disclosed this at a briefing at the Department of African Studies,
Georgetown University, Washington DC.
The minister, who engaged members and students of the department on
the development in the country, said that government had never for one
day forgotten or closed the case of the abducted girls.
“Few days ago was the fifth anniversary of the abducted girls and
that means they were kidnapped more than a year before President
Muhammadu Buhari administration came into power.
“It was the engagement of this government that led to the release of
107 of the girls and what I can assure you is that the government is
still engaging in trying to find out where the girls are and what has
become of them.
“However, some of this negotiations are very delicate due largely to
the fact that it takes a lot of time and there is a sort of
fractionalisation within the terrorist group.
The Federal Government has assured the international community that
it is working with its Swiss partners and others, on daily basis, to
track and secure the release of remaining abducted Chibok girls still in
captivity.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed
disclosed this at a briefing at the Department of African Studies,
Georgetown University, Washington DC.
The minister, who engaged members and students of the department on
the development in the country, said that government had never for one
day forgotten or closed the case of the abducted girls.
“Few days ago was the fifth anniversary of the abducted girls and
that means they were kidnapped more than a year before President
Muhammadu Buhari administration came into power.
“It was the engagement of this government that led to the release of
107 of the girls and what I can assure you is that the government is
still engaging in trying to find out where the girls are and what has
become of them.
“However, some of this negotiations are very delicate due largely to
the fact that it takes a lot of time and there is a sort of
fractionalisation within the terrorist group.
“We are still working with our Swiss partners and the others everyday
so that we can be able to track where these girls are, what have become
of them and how many are left.
“However, these are not something you can disclose, anyhow because of the sensitivity,” NAN quoted him as saying.
Responding to question on the reintegration and sponsorship of the
girls, the minister said, going by the experiences of the 107 girls that
were released, government took responsibilities for their reintegration
and got them all back to schools.
He said only recently, there were media reports about the bright performances of some of the girls in their respective fields.
On the recently concluded general elections, the minister said the
presidential poll was a referendum on the integrity of President Buhari
and the triumph of the common Nigerians over the elites.
He said prior to the elections, there were a lot of misinformation
and disinformation on the social media that would have marred or
discredited the elections, but with proactive steps government overcame
them.
The minister said that fake news was one of the major threat to the
general elections, to the extent that some people had posited that “If
there are polling booths on social media the opposition would have
probably won”.
He said that government was tackling the menace of fake news through
vigorous campaign, which had helped to bring the danger to the fore.
He reiterated the position of the government not to gag the press or
use coercion but appeal to the sensibilities of the people in fighting
fake news.
Fielding questions on Boko Haram crisis, the minister said that the
war could not be won only by the bullets and there is the need to give
hopes and opportunities to the younger ones being indoctrinated and
rehabilitate the victims.
Many of the younger ones are carried away by the terrorists ideology because they feel hopeless, excluded from governance.
In winning the people away from the ideology and giving them hope and
opportunities, he said the government would consolidate on its social
intervention programmes.
