President Goodluck Jonathan has given approval for the rebuilding of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

Jonathan spoke through the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Thursday when she visited the Chibok community in Kuje, Abuja, as part of the outreach for the Safe Schools Initiative to provide education to children who are out of school as a result of the insurgency particularly in the North-eastern part of the country.
The school was badly damaged last April when Boko Haram launched an attack that led to the abduction of more than 200 students of the school.

The president reassured anxious parents and children of the current administration’s determination to rescue the abducted Chibok girls and quickly address the insurgency in the North-east in order to safely return displaced persons to their communities.

Okonjo-Iweala, who was accompanied by the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad Sani Sidi, to the 30 villages in Kuje, Abuja, where the displaced Chibok community are currently located, also assured them that government would accommodate about 44 students currently among the displaced persons in Chibok community Kuje in a list of 2,400 students, who would soon be transferred to other unity schools to continue their education.

She also ordered an immediate medical attention and immunisation of the children as well as necessary supplies to cater for the people.

The minister said the visit had become necessary in order to ascertain the condition of the Chibok community with a view to providing them with government assistance until they are able to return to their communities.

The leader of the Abuja Chibok community, Mr. Gapani Yanga, had earlier commended the federal government’s current effort to end insurgency in the North-east, adding that they would like to see efforts doubled to free the abducted students from captivity.

Besides, he said the Chibok people needed education, accommodation, medical supplies and food.

“We appreciate current government efforts through the military to end the insurgency to enable us return to our villages,” he said.

They also want the federal government to set up an independent judicial enquiry to probe the circumstance beyond the abduction of the Chibok girls, “because there had been suspicion about the circumstance leading to the incident.”

He said government should also provide social amenities, like water, medical care and good roads in the post insurgency in the North-east.

Nevertheless, the minister said: “We are please to come and be with you; once we heard about the community here, which we only got some few weeks ago...we mobilised to come and see what was happening.”

“We sent the NGO, Sopwa, which is supported by the Safe Schools Initiative. Mr. President said that we should mobilise Nigerians who can help other Nigerians through counseling and support and we should use the safe school initiative to do it and we did.

According to her: “We sent these counselors’ to come and interact with you because I know that you are traumatised being away from home and being out of your communities is a very difficult thing. So that’s the first thing that we’ve tried to do as a federal government.

“As you already noted that there’s a big push in the north-east to try and deal with Boko Haram so that you can go back. I know that the biggest thing for you is how to get back to your communities.

“So we are trying to do that. The whole idea is not to build you camps in different places but to try quickly to get you to move back to your communities. That’s what Mr president is trying to do- to get them (Boko Haram) to move back by doing this push with the other countries.

“Mr. President has promised publicly to have the Government Secondary School, Chibok rebuilt. The plans are ready and we are working with the army corps of engineers and I am sure that in no distant future by God’s grace we would be able to quickly start work on that school. It is already approved and we are just waiting for the right circumstances.

“As we speak, we are in the middle of transferring 2,400 children from the three north-eastern states; their parents came to the federal government and said we want our children to be transferred to other unity schools in other parts of the country and they signed that this is what they want.

“So we are transferring 2,400 children. We are working with donors who are also supporting with us like the British, Americans, Norwegians, World Bank, and African Development Bank- all of them are involved.

“So we would add the names here to that list. If they want their schools close by here we would do it and if they want to be in secondary schools or boarding schools elsewhere-whatever their parents agree, we would do it.”

She said: “It is our biggest wish to see the Chibok girls brought back to the community. We would try to arrange for the immunisation of the children and also provide needed supplies. We would be able to work with you until we can safely take you back to Chibok. We are interested in the children, whether they are coping and in school or not.”

“President Goodluck Jonathan is even anxious that even the IDPs, which moved that the Children should not be left without trying to help them have some kind of learning and supporting them to be in school and that’s why we came.

“The president started the Safe Schools Initiative to help the children. It is a nationwide programme, but we are starting with the north-east because that’s where the biggest problem lies. And the idea is to help the children there to be safe in school. But we also found many people have moved into IDP camps.

http://naijaroof.com/2015/02/13/jonathan-promi…-chibok-school/ ‎
http://naijaroof.com/2015/02/13/jonathan-promi…-chibok-school/ ‎