Parents of the recently released Chibok schoolgirls have appealed to the Federal and Borno State governments to secure admission for 14 of the girls to enable them complete their studies.
The parents made the plea on Monday while briefing journalists at the NUJ Press Centre in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.
One of the parents, Pogu Yaga, father of Yana Pogu, who was rescued by the military last year, said his daughter was still at the rehabilitation Centre in Maiduguri four months after her release.
According to him, his daughter and 13 others, who were rescued last year, neither attend a school nor were taught vocational skills, unlike their counterparts currently studying in various schools within and outside the country.
“Some of Chibok girls have been in the camp for more than one year without any form of education, initially we were told that they will be taken to Abuja few weeks after their release, as I am talking to you now, they are still in Bulumkutu Rehabilitation Centre,” Yaga explained.
Another parent, Ayuba Alamson, urged the federal government to fulfill the promise earlier made regarding the education of the Chibok schoolgirls.
Reacting to the calls, Borno State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hajiya Zuwaira Gambo, said the state government has been providing the needed care for the rescued Chibok girls who have been traumatised.
According to her, the state government has begun the process of securing admission in Maiduguri when the Association of Parents of the girls resisted, saying that their children would only attend schools where their colleagues were studying.
“The inter-ministerial committee comprising of ministers of women affairs, humanitarian affairs and security agencies, were in Maiduguri and interacted with the 14 Chibok girls and promised that they will soon come back to take the girls to Abuja to continue with the studies,” Hajiya Gambo explained.
She confirmed that the state government had written to the Presidency on the matter “with immediate dispatch” of an inter-ministerial delegation, which has been awaiting the response of the federal government.
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