The Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA), an association made up of indigenes of Chibok community, has stated that it is not against the rebuilding of the Government Girls Secondary School, GGSS, Chibok, Borno State that was burnt down by Boko Haram insurgents when they visited the school on April 14, 2014 and hundreds of school girls.
Speaking during a press briefing yesterday, the National Secretary of KADA, Engr. Battah Ndirpaya, stated that the attention of the community has been drawn to the recent publication credited to a community leader in Chibok, who allegedly said the community rejected the safe school initiative of the federal government, adding that the community was not against the rebuilding of the school and lauded the initiative as a welcome development.
“Our attention has been drawn to the recent publication accredited to a community leader in Chibok who allegedly said the community rejected the safe school initiative. May we the representatives of the Chibok community make it abundantly clear that we welcome the laudable safe school initiative and embrace it wholeheartedly”, he said.
Ndirpaya noted that though the rescue of the abducted girls was a matter of top priority for them, pending their return, those at home needed to be protected, educated and their welfare provided for.
“In that regard, we wish to thank the Borno state government for sponsoring some of the escaped girls to continue with their education.
“Similarly, the recent act of the Federal government through the Minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the economy, in initiating the construction of the GSS Chibok is a development in the right direction which the community appreciates, and we call on the Borno State government to also contribute its quota in that regard.
“KADA did not only welcome the reconstruction of the burnt school, but will appreciate provision of link road, hospital, pipe born water, etc to this traumatized community”.
The KADA national secretary also expressed gratitude to governments, the press, NGOs and well-meaning individuals in Nigeria and the world for standing by the community and pleaded with them to continue to stand by them until their daughters are brought back.
“Let us always remember that political consideration is not an issue to be allowed to sneak into this humanitarian disaster of monumental proportion that has befallen us”, he said.