Nigeria to reopen Chibok school in restive northeast

The Nigerian government Thursday said it was working hard to ensure the reopening of Government Girls' Secondary School (GGSS) Chibok in the restive northeastern state of Borno in the 2017/2018 session.

All necessary security measures were being taken to avert a recurrence of the 2014 abduction, Tijjani Tumsah, the Vice-Chairman of the Presidential Committee on North-East Initiative, said in Abuja.

"We intend to finish with the school before next session and make it functional for educational activities to pick up," he said.

"We have varieties of programs, including psycho-social and counselling programs for women and girls and community engagements," he added.

In terms of the school facility, the official told reporters that the school had to be fortified in terms of early warning systems to protect the girls.

Tumsah said the committee would implement relevant programs that would boost education, which had suffered a setback through Boko Haram activities in the northeast.

He said the committee was contemplating suitable programs that would help in de-radicalizing the youth in keeping with the Muhammadu Buhari administration Plan of Action.

More than 200 female students of GGSS, Chibok, were abducted by members of Boko Haram on April 14, 2014, and 50 of them escaped from their abductors.

Among the remaining 219, the government negotiated the release of 21 by the sect in 2016, while three others escaped on their own. Endit