Mr. Jonathan promised scholarships for all the abducted
girls.
———————————
Three months after the failure of the Nigerian security
system led to the kidnap of over 250 teenage girls by the
Boko Haram insurgent group, President Goodluck Jonathan
has finally agreed to meet with the parents of the victims.
The girls were kidnapped from the Government Secondary
School, Chibok on April 14, about a year after the president
declared a state of emergency in the state to curtail the Boko
Haram insurgency.
About 217 of the girls are still with their kidnappers after
others escaped from the insurgents.
While it took the president almost a month to speak publicly
on the kidnap, he is yet to visit Chibok and is yet to meet
with the parents of the teenagers, despite local and
international condemnation of the government’s actions and
inactions.
However, on Monday, Mr. Jonathan declared he would
finally meet with the parents of the victims.
He also promised scholarships for all the abducted school
girls in any part of the country when they return home.
The President stated these when he received Malala
Yousafzai, a Pakistani school pupil and education activist
from the town of Mingora.
Malala was shot by a Taliban gunman in 2012 for
championing girl-child education and has been a promoter
of the cause since she survived the attack.
Malala, who is in Nigeria on the commemoration of her 17th
birthday, told journalists during a briefing after the meeting
that Mr. Jonathan promised her that he would meet with the
parents of the abducted girls as well as ensure that they are
returned home safely.
Briefing journalists alongside the president’s spokesperson,
Reuben Abati; her dad, Ziauddin Yousafzai; and the Director
of Operations of Malala Foundation, Eason Jordan; the
Pakistani teenager said she is in Nigeria to support girls’
education and advocate for the release of the Chibok girls.
July 14 is Malala Day, a day set aside by the United Nations
for the world to focus on putting all girls in school.
She said she met with parents of some of the girls the
previous day and they had expressed the longing to meet
with the President and anybody who can help them find
their girls.
“I am here in Nigeria on my 17th birthday for a price which
is to see that every child goes to school,” Malala said. “This
year, my objective is to speak up for my Nigerian sisters
about 200 of them who are under the abduction of Boko
Haram and I met the president, Goodluck Jonathan, for this
purpose.”
“I convey the voice of my sisters who are out of school or
who are still under the abduction of Boko haram. And for
those girls who escaped from the abduction but still do not
have education. And in the meeting, I highlighted the same
issues which the girls and their parents told me in the past
two days. The parents said they really want to meet with the
president to share their stories with him. And I asked the
president that if he wants to meet with the parents of the
girls, the president assured me that he would meet with
them,” she said.
She added that the parents of the girls “still have this hope
that there is still someone who can help them. They asked
me if there is any chance for them to meet the president
because at this time, they need the president’s support. I am
hopeful that these two promises, the return of the girls from
Boko Haram and meeting with their parents, will be fulfilled
and we will see it soon”.
Malala also told journalists that the Malala fund had raised
$200,000 “and we want to use it to contribute to those
children’s education. We have started working with two
organisations here in Nigeria to be able to help these girls
continue their education”.
The teenage activist, who noted that having as much as 10.5
million children out of school in Nigeria was not
encouraging as some of these children can end up as
terrorists or being violated, also urged the president to
increase the budgetary funding for the education sector.
“If Nigeria must have a bright future, every child must have
an opportunity to go to school,” she said.
The Director of Operations of Malala Foundation also told
journalists that Mr. Jonathan said to Malala that “he can
guarantee that all the girls that have been kidnapped
including the ones that escaped will be given scholarships to
go to school in other parts of the country”.


m.premiumtimesng.com/news/164889-malala-convinces-jonathan-to-meet-chibok-parents-3-months-after-kidnap.html

good initiative.
pray the girls return home soon

A Pakistanian girl in Nigeria? Spear heading the course of nigerian girl-child-education! . Things are really degenerating every day in this country. And the girl have to beg GEJ to meet with the parents of the missing girls? So shamefull! BTW who is he promising those scholarships? When his actions/body language is 'saying no girl is missing'. God Nigeria need help ASAP!

smileandlove: A Pakistanian girl in Nigeria? Spear heading the course of nigerian girl-child-education! . Things are really degenerating every day in this country. And the girl have to beg GEJ to meet with the parents of the missing girls? So shamefull! BTW who is he promising those scholarships? When his actions/body language is 'saying no girl is missing'. God Nigeria need help ASAP!

What else do you expect from a President who is so inept and clueless? When I was advocating here that he should at least visit the parents of the missing girls, his blind loyalists were on my head asking of what use will his visit to chibok achieve? Earlier it took him 3 weeks to finally own up to the world that he needs help in finding the missing girls(even though US had earlier offered to help in the search but GEJ turned down their offer). 3 months later, he's finally accepted to meet with the parents. I pray they stone his sorry ass the moment he gets to chibok. He has failed in his mandate.

GEJ should simply return to the classroom where he truly belongs. He should be very far away from the corridors of power.

GEJ dont try am Ooooo! This might be their grand agenda. Let Malala and BBC Hausa meet Chibok people.