FG to reunite 82 Chibok girls with parents

The Federal Government yesterday said arrangement have been made to reunite the 82 Chibok girls recently freed by Boko Haram with their parent.

The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Aisha Alhassan said the parents would be transported to Abuja to meet the girls, once they identify their daughters among the pictures sent them through the chairman of the Chibok community.

“We have sent pictures of the 82 girls through the chairman of the parents of the Chibok girls, so that parents can actually identify their daughters before they begin a journey to Abuja, we do not want a repeat of what happened when the 21 girls were released to occur again.

“The parents and the 82 girls will soon unite in a couple of days, but it will have to be well planned. It’s not going to be easy to transport all 174 persons; transportation and security have to be provided because the number is quite large, and you all know how sensitive Borno is at the moment.”

Meanwhile the minister revealed that the first batch of girls have been united with the 82 girls, saying, “Yesterday we took the first set of 24 girls to visit the 82 girls at the medical facilities, where the 82 girls are being treated to reassure them that all is well.”

She said the Federal Government was not forcing or compelling the 21 girls to remain in custody.

“We had a meeting with the parents of the 21 girls and the girls themselves and they all asked the Federal Government to send them to schools and take care of them, most of them are scared of returning back to Chibok because of their experiences.

“But to show you that parents have access to their daughters some parents just left the facility, where the girls were kept three weeks ago after paying the girls a visit, one of the girls who is married is presently in Chibok visiting with her husband and his family.”

She added that once the 82 girls finish undergoing medical treatment, they would be infused into the rehabilitation and integration programme, which the 21 girls are presently undertaking.