President Orders School Operators to Provide Adequate Security Measures

President Goodluck Jonathan said Boko Haram terrorists
were able to kidnap the 276 girls from their school's
dormitories in Chibok, Borno State, because of lack of
adequate security measures.
As he was receiving the report of the fact-finding committee
that was set up in early May to investigate the April 14
kidnap, Jonathan said, in part:
"If we had just five security personnel in the compound that
night, although they couldn't have stood the firepower of the
invaders, they could have alerted the girls and they wouldn't
have been deceived ... Most of them [the girls] would have
been able to escape and probably the number taken would
not have been up to 30.
"But because there was no security at all, there was nobody
to even warn the girls that there was danger."
"The story was that they came in military camouflage and
deceived the girls that they were soldiers, who came to take
them on protective custody because Boko Haram was
invading the community, and they followed."
Jonathan then ordered that school operators, notably of the
North Eastern boarding schools, ensure security for their
students.
"Let me charge everybody, whether corporate bodies, federal
and state governments or individuals that own schools
especially in the north east, that if we must keep students in
hostels, there must be some basic security that should be
provided," the President said, adding: "While I am not
expecting school owners to put an army battalion on guard,
at least basic security arrangement should be made to protect
their students."
Further, the President said that the Federal Government would
rebuild the Chibok school using army engineers after the girls
are rescued and hand it over to the Borno State government to
manage.
The fact-finding committee has determined the exact number
of abducted girls (276), saying 219 are still in the hands of
captors. On Friday, photographs and names of almost all
missing girls were published in the ThisDay newspaper.
Despite the emergency rule imposed in Yobe, Borno and
Adamawa states over a year ago, the area has often been
targeted by Boko Haram.
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