yesterday announced that the state government
would be spending N150million for the
rehabilitation of the 53 chibok girls that escaped
from Boko Haram captivity as well as their
parents whose source of livelihood was affected
by the abduction, Sahara Reporters reports.
The Governor made this announcement when he
received the Presidential Fact Finding Committee
on the missing girls in his office yesterday. Gov
Shettima decried the notion by some people that
the missing Chibok girls was a scam or that it
was a staged attempt by the state government
to stop emergency rule extension in the state.
Continue...
He called out former Minister of Aviation, Kema
Chikwe for casting doubts on the authenticity of
the abducted girls. He said the missing
Malaysian plane was a good example of what is
happening now, saying that with all the theories
mounting up of the possibility that the
passengers are dead, rescue efforts with massive
investment is still going on in the search of the
missing plane.
"Now, while that is going on, here is Nigeria,
there was a report that over 200 human
creatures, young Nigerian girls about
completing their secondary school
education, were attacked in their school at
night and whisked away like slaves in
ancient years. And some Nigerians, one of
them a former Minister and one time
member of the Federal Executive Council
which is the highest decision making body
of this country, worst of all, a woman and a
mother, came out to cast doubt over the
abduction of these girls. That woman
completely disregarded the sensitivity of
that issue, the pains of the agonizing
parents and our pains as a Government, to
whom, the parents of these girls, cry out in
desperation, unimaginable confusion and
anguish. Every other unreasonable Nigerian
that came to adopt that view, only
anchored the unfortunate position that was
first expressed by Mrs Kema Chikwe." he
said
The Governor also revealed that since the
beginning of this year, N1billion has been spent
on the rehabilitation of people and places that
have experienced attacks from Boko Haram.
"In this year alone, we had spent close to
one billion naira on victims. In Gwoza, we
spent two hundred million naira for
reconstruction of destroyed houses,
markets, places of worship and to provide
cash to victims so they could have
something to rely on in the immediate term
to feed themselves and families or start
small businesses in the interim. In Bama,
we spent three hundred million for same
purpose; in Konduga we spent two hundred
million naira" he said
Full text of his address to the Presidential Panel
below
Schoolgirls Abduction: What Governor Shettima
told Presidential fact finding committee today
(Tuesday) in Maiduguri
Highlights:
*N150m (about one million dollars) earmarked
by Borno State Government for medical
counseling etc of 53 freed girls and material
support to grieving parents who have been
unable to focus on sources of livelihood
* Explanations on the decision above
* A. Committee enlarged to work with all
stakeholders and international organizations on
support to freed girls and parents
"In the last three years, we have witnessed the
most turbulent of times as a people. I have seen
very terrible incidents as a Governor. I have
come across innocent citizens of Borno killed in
thousands, some slaughtered by fellow human
beings who think they earn rewards from God by
their brutality. I have witnessed high scale of
destructions inflicted on us as a people in Borno
by fellow human beings who again think they
earn reward from God by their intentional and
planned devastations. I have in the last 36 days,
also come across a situation where men
abducted young, innocent schoolgirls, separated
them from their education, from their parents,
from their relations and friends and from their
environment and more disturbing also,
attempted to separate them from their own
religion out of compulsion. To every other
Muslim, worldwide, these men that kill, destroy
and abduct, insult Islam by calling themselves
Muslims. They have contradicted every single
tenet of the Islamic religion. They have in some
cases, tried to change the ordained translation of
verses in the Holy Quran. To every Muslim, a
verse of the Holy Quran has clearly said that
there is no compulsion in Religion. But to these
men of violence, there is compulsion not only in
religion but even in Islamic ideology. To these
men, any human who doesn't share their
ideology deserves to be brutally killed. A Muslim
that is of not of the Boko Haram sect is
condemned to death and so is Christian. To
them, the human race should go into extinction
for their doctrine to thrive.
Borno has seen evil times. Our people have
suffered. At times, when I lament this carnage in
the midst of some associates, they remind me
that I didn't create Boko Haram, that in fact, I
inherited it in 2011 when I was sworn-in amidst
near complete breakdown of security in
Maiduguri, the largest and most populated part
of the State. But I normally say to them, that a
leader is elected or appointed to solve problems,
it doesn't matter whether the leader created the
problem or not. A leader is elected to find
solution, this is governance. There is a whole
difference between Politics and Governance. In
politics, you tell the general public and victims
about a problem, you tell them the gravity of the
problem; and with emphasis, you tell them who
to blame for it. But in Governance, you identify a
problem and work hard to solve it. Unfortunately
for us in this interesting country, we all appear
to lay more emphasis on politics than on
governance. The Chibok incident, for me, has
grossly exposed our weighty weakness as leaders
in terms of assuming our shared responsibilities.
In the last two or three months, the entire
western world mobilized men and resources,
contributed so much funds in the search for a
Malaysian airline which is believed to have
crashed into the ocean. Majority in the western
world, suspect that the crew and passengers of
that Malaysian airline are most probably dead.
Despite that, massive investment was and still
being deployed in the search for whatever can
be found as remains of those in that plane and
its wreckage.
Now, while that is going on, here is Nigeria, there
was a report that over 200 human creatures,
young Nigerian girls about completing their
secondary school education, where attacked in
their school at night and whisked away like
slaves in ancient years. And some Nigerians, one
of them a former Minister and one time member
of the Federal Executive Council which is the
highest decision making body of this country,
worst of all, a woman and a mother, came out to
cast doubt over the abduction of these girls.
That woman completely disregarded the
sensitivity of that issue, the pains of the
agonizing parents and our pains as a
Government, to whom, the parents of these
girls, cry out in desperation, unimaginable
confusion and anguish. Every other
unreasonable Nigerian that came to adopt that
view, only anchored the unfortunate position
that was first expressed by Mrs Kema Chikwe.
Doubt over that abduction pained me as much
as the incident its self. Doubt over that
abduction pained me far more than the childish
theory, that as Government, we staged that
abduction in order to create basis to stop the
extension of emergency rule in Borno. By the
way, that theory doesn't make the slightest
sense. In relation to that theory, if a Government
doesn't want extension of emergency and
chooses to fake happenings, the Government
should rather deny that the abduction ever took
place, evil as that is, because the abduction is
enough basis for the emergency extension given
the fact that the incident puts a message across
that there is new and big threat to students in
schools hence the need for extension of
emergency rule. Then, there was the issue of
saying Chibok was not safe and we went ahead
to open the school. Majority of these students
are from Chibok axis, if the school was
considered unsafe, I don't think any right
thinking parent would allow his or her child to
study in an atmosphere of high risk. But I will
reserve some of my comments for a closed door
session with this respected committee.
It hurts me however, that there was no kind of
politics that was not introduced into that
unfortunate Chibok incident. Even religion was
brought in, all for the purpose of blame trade.
The politics didn't help anybody at the end of
the day. Soon after that incident, we thought
that our 53 daughters that either witnessed that
attack or escaped from abduction be flown
abroad for psychological counseling and some
medical examinations. But then, with politics of
doubt over the abduction, if the State
Government had flown these 53 girls abroad, the
doubting thermoses would have gotten what to
fly about to claim that the 53 girls were none
existent or they would have probably said, we
were taking the girls away from the public,
probably we had something to hide. While we do
much, providing crucial support to security
agencies and volunteers in order to prevent
attacks, we have a policy in the State, that
where attacks occur, we provide immediate
material support as palliative to victims of
insurgency. In this year alone, we had spent
close to one billion naira on victims. In Gwoza,
we spent two hundred million naira for
reconstruction of destroyed houses, markets,
places of worship and to provide cash to victims
so they could have something to rely on in the
immediate term to feed themselves and families
or start small businesses in the interim. In Bama,
we spent three hundred million for same
purpose; in Konduga we spent two hundred
million naira. Unfortunately, we had to hold what
we should have done for Chibok because of the
politics brought in. If we had released some
material support earlier, some bad elements
would have said we tried to buy the people of
Chibok. Unlike other communities in which
private houses and markets were destroyed,
public institutions like the school, council
secretariat, the residence of the council
chairman and some few shops were destroyed in
Chibok. Communities didn't suffer material
losses. But then, from our immediate thoughts
when the attack took place and also based on
our recent discoveries, most of the parents of
these abducted girls have nothing to eat, they
are so traumatized that they have abandoned
their sources of livelihood. No true mother would
easily concentrate on any line of business when
her daughter is in the hands of violent
abductors. The same it is for most fathers. I have
a girl-child; I know the psychological connection
between the girl-child and parents. One can
hardly even pay the required attention in
prayers due to the perpetual trauma of having
one's girl-child in dangerous hands. So, are we
going to continue to ignore these suffering
parents and the 53 girls just because we are
afraid of political accusations and false
interpretations? The answer is NO. Governance is
beyond the fear of accusations, Governance
entails making a decision with sincerity of
purpose and for the good of the society.
The Borno State Government will set aside the
sum of one hundred and fifty million naira to
fund a rehabilitation programme for the 53 girls
and to support parents in Chibok whose sources
of livelihood have been truncated by their
trauma, leaving them with little or nothing to
feed while we continue to work immeasurably for
the release of the girls being held. The State
Government is already in touch with key
international organizations and a plan of action
has already been proposed by the Ministry of
Health in the State on issues relating to the
health well being of the 53 girls as well as their
colleagues soon as they are freed insha Allah. We
are very optimistic that they will be freed. We
have a quiet committee headed by the State's
commissioner of health, she is a female medical
doctor with specialty in reproductive health, she
has experience in female advocacy with
International contacts on the issues before us.
We may need to enlarge the quiet committee to
have all relevant stakeholders that include
Chibok elders, PTA of the school, Security
agencies in the State, the National Association of
Nigerian Students, the association of Borno
Students, the female wing of Christian
Association of Nigeria, the Federation of Muslim
Women of Nigeria, the district head of Chibok,
some civil societies and specialists in
psychological counseling etc, so that we move
on while we must all work very hard in
collaboration with the Federal Government to
ensure the release of our daughters, given them
medical care, counsel them, reintegrate them
and ensure they are given the right to complete
their exams.
Mr. Chairman, members of this important
Committee, the Borno State Government is
committed to sincere and active collaboration
with the Federal Government and all other
support groups in our collective fight against
insurgency.
In continued collaboration, however, we must
trust each other's sincerity of purpose. I see
misconception about those behind Boko Haram
as one major hindrance to fighting the
insurgency. So long we continue to look the
wrong way on who is or are behind Boko Haram,
there would be lack of focus on the part of most
stakeholders and in which case, the victims
would remain the accused.
I wish this committee of respected men and
women of impeccable character, a successful
endeavor and I am confident that this
committee has integrity, enough to guide it
towards finding the facts on the attack of April
14, 2014 at Government Secondary School,
Chibok.
I thank you for listening as I look forward to
meeting you for a closed door session.
May God free our daughters from captivity and
May He grant us eternal peace in Borno and the
entire Nigeria"
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
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