Jos, CISA – Following reports that about 200 girls kidnapped in Chibok by Nigeria’s militant group, Boko Haram, could be freed soon, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of the catholic Archdiocese of Jos, has called on the country’s leaders to quickly fast track the process.
“At the conclusion of the National Council of States Meeting…there was news that it will just be a matter of time before the girls are released,” Archbishop Kaigama told CNA.
“That is good news, we hope. But we will have to see how far it goes, how concrete that news will be. As I said there’s a lot of promises,” but “promises are not enough, we just want to see concrete action and the fruit of whatever the government is doing along with the international community.”
Archbishop Kaigama gave his comments following the conclusion of Nigeria’s National Council of States Meeting.
Convening for the second time this year, the meeting was attended by President Goodluck Jonathan, along with the nation’s vice president, former heads of states, governors of the 36 states including Abuja’s minister, former and present Chief Justices of the Federation, the Senate president, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Inspector General of Police.
During their discussion, Nigeria’s Daily Post reports that Akwa Ibom’s state governor, Godswill Akpabio, said that at the top of “the agenda of the meeting was the security of the nation,” and that the key security issue “was the rescue of (the) Chibok girls,” whom military services assured would be home soon.
More than 200 schoolgirls, mostly aged between 16 and 18, were kidnapped April 14 from their boarding school in Borno, Nigeria’s northeastern-most state, by militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
Launched in 2009 with the hope of imposing sharia law on Nigera, Boko Haram has targeted security forces, politicians, Christian minorities, and moderate Muslims in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north.
Its attacks have killed thousands since 2009, including at least 1,600 in 2014 alone. The U.N. estimates that the attacks have led to more than 470,000 internally displaced persons, and some 57,000 refugees.
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