Nigerian Government Promises To Rehabilitate Released Chibok Girls

​

Nigeria’s Vice President has promised the immediate rehabilitation of the 21 Chibok girls who were released by the Boko Haram sect on Thursday.

Professor Yemi Osinbajo said this after seeing the girls at the Department Of State Services (DSS) office in Abuja.

Instead of waiting for them at the Presidential Villa, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo found his way to the SSS hospital where the girls are recuperating.

He arrived about 6.30pm with his wife and started by offering prayers for the released girls.

He said that the whole country had been waiting for them to be released and that he came to ensure that they were in good hands to start with.

The Director-General of the SSS, Lawal Daura and the chief medical officer of the hospital, Dr Ann Okoroafor, told the Vice President that a special arrangement has been put in place to ensure that the girls get back to life.

The DSS called them out one after the other beginning with Mary Usman. All of them looked frail, with one of them clutching her baby.

The Vice President, who promised to get the girls back to school as soon as possible said that the federal government would also explore all avenues to ensure that the rest of the girls still in Boko Haram camps were released.

He pledged the readiness of the government to rehabilitate the girls physically and mentally while waiting for their parents to join them.

The Spokesman for the President, Garba Shehu, earlier on Thursday, confirmed that 21 out of the Chibok girls kidnapped by the Boko Haram militants, had been released.

According to Mr Shehu, the release of the girls, in a limited number, is the outcome of negotiations between the administration and the Boko Haram, brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss Government.

President Muhammadu Buhari, speaking at the airport just before takeoff to Germany on an official visit, described the release of the 21 Chibok girls as a confirmation of his determination to secure all Nigerians where ever they are.

There had been reports in the media that four Boko Haram members were released in exchange for the girls’ release but the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has since debunked the reports.

He told journalists in Abuja that the release secured by the government is based on confidence and not a swap arrangement with the terrorists group.

“This is not a swap. This was a release which was effected because over time, we succeeded in confidence building.

“This particular release is significant because it’s just a first step in what we believe will lead to the eventual release of all our girls in custody. It is significant also because we have been able to establish more than ever before a confidence in both the leadership of Boko Haram and Nigerians.

“I am not aware of any monetary transaction,” he said.