Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, 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”
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