PHOTOS: Borno Authorities To Spend N100m On Chibok Girls’ Education

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Borno State authorities said September 24 that they set aside N100 million annually for education of the escaped Chibok girls.

While more than 200 female students abducted in April by Boko Haram insurgents are still missing, 57 children managed to escape and will be supported by Borno government.

According to NAN, governor Kashim Shettima made this known in the capital Maiduguri as he received members of the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

“The state government is spending N1.4 million on each of the girls per annum to ensure that they have access to good and sound education… We are actually sending them to schools around Zaria, Kaduna and Jos, so that they can have conducive learning environment.”

The governor said that the distributed amount would cover all the expenditures charged by the schools.

As 6 out of 57 girls already received scholarships from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to enroll in his private school, Borno government will take care for the remaining 51, Shettima said.

“Out of the 51, 36 have already arrived Maiduguri, leaving the balance of 15.”

Borno State leader described their decision to invest this money into girls education as duty:

“We have a duty to ensure that they have access to best education affordable. This is because they are our daughters, our sisters who are lucky to have escaped from terrorists’ hands.”

Meanwhile controversial reports broke out yesterday that more Chibok girls were released and driven to Maiduguri. Strong beliefs occurred when Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade, spokesman for the Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters, allegedly confirmed the information.

However later that evening Olukolade said the girls spotted in the buses were not Chibok girls and insisted he had never affirmed the opposite, which was reported by numerous Nigerian and international media.

The bitter truth is that over 200 children kidnapped by Boko Haram have been missing for more than 5 months.

It has been recently learnt that the insurgents were said to have agreed to swap all the girls for 18 key sect commanders currently in detention. The source said that the negotiating parties would meet after the Eid-el-Kabir festival “to finalise the agreement or part ways”.