Borno sets aside N100m for education of Chibok girls

The Borno State Government on Wednesday said it has set aside N100m for the education of the 57 students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno, who escaped from captivity.

Gov. Kashim Shettima made the disclosure in Maiduguri when he met with members of Non-Government Organisations counseling and rehabilitating the affected girls.

He said, 'We are willing to rehabilitate the girls and those still in captivity as soon as they return before re-integrating them back to the society.

'We have set aside N100m for their education so they can move forward.

'We might get schools for them in Kaduna or Abuja so they can repeat their classes for a year before going further.'

Shettima said the state government was willing to transfer the students to other schools in the North-West or North-Central regions of the country to enable them to further their education.

He expressed optimism that the remaining girls still in captivity would be released soon, stressing that 'Insha Allah, we shall get back our girls safely.'

Earlier, Malam Mohammed Ashafa, the Spokesman of Interfaith Mediation Centre, Kaduna, one of the NGOs, said the group's visit was to see how it could assist the state government in rehabilitating the abducted girls.

He said the girls needed rehabilitation following their traumatic experience in the hands of their abductors.

Ashafa added that the organisation intended to perform psycho-social examination on the girls before embarking on voluntary medical tests.

Dr Musa Saleh of the Family Health International, said the body would assist in counseling the girls so that they would be able to overcome the trauma.