Four of the 24 Chibok girls reportedly escaped from Boko Haram insurgents in 2014 and came to the American University of Nigeria (AUN) Yola for their education were among the new students formally accepted into the university during the matriculation and pledge ceremony held last week.

The matriculation ceremony, according to the Executive Director of Communication and Public Relations unit of the university, Mr. Daniel Okereke, witnessed a large turnout of parents and students.

He said since their escape, all the 24 young girls had been on the university’s scholarship studying under a special preparatory programme.

Okereke also noted that students admitted into the newly established School of Law to study courses in Humanitarian, Gender and Environmental Laws, some postgraduate students including 18 of the 67 winners of scholarship offers as well as those on transfer from other universities in Ghana, Lebanon, Egypt, the United States and some European countries were part of the ceremony.

He pointed out that apart from the new law students, the university witnessed for the first time in three years the largest number of newly admitted undergraduates, the development he said signalled a return to pre-insurgency admission figures by the university.

Addressing the audience inside the Commencement Hall, the President and Vice-Chancellor of the university, Dr. Margee Ensign told the new intakes that the type of education they would receive in the university would make them leaders in their chosen fields upon graduation.