The 82 Chibok schoolgirls recently released after more than three years in Boko Haram captivity reunited with their families Saturday as anxious parents looked for signs of how deeply the extremists had changed their daughters’ lives.
Brightly dressed families rushed through the crowd in the capital, Abuja, and embraced. One small group sank to their knees, with a woman raising her hands as if praising in church. Some danced. Others were in tears.
“I am really happy today, I am Christmas and New Year, I am very happy and I thank God,” said mother Godiya Joshua, whose daughter Esther was among those freed.
This month’s release was the largest liberation of hostages since 276 Chibok schoolgirls were abducted from their boarding school in 2014. Five commanders from the extremist group were exchanged for the girls’ freedom, and Nigeria’s government has said it would make further exchanges to bring the 113 remaining schoolgirls home.
“Our joy is never complete until we see the complete 113, because one Chibok girl matters to all Chibok people,” said a parent of one of the freed schoolgirls, Yahi Bwata.
Joe Mutah, the chief press secretary to the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said in a statement that the girls were earlier reunited with 24 of the colleagues who were rescued in October 2016.
The statement said a representative of the Minister of Women Affairs, Jummai Alhassan, announced at the event that a group of experts had been put together to address the girls’ psycho-social support and medical needs.
“The children are being rehabilitated and we believe that in due course they will be properly aligned with their families,” she was quoted as saying.
“Intensive medical attention is being administered and as soon as they are done, they will be enrolled into a remedial programme.”
“For the 21 and three that were earlier released, I wish to inform us that their psycho-social counselling is still in progress and of course they have started remedial classes.
“They are being taught five subjects, which is designed with a view to getting them back to school come the next school session, which is in September this year.
“They will be settled in various schools and I am sure they will continue their education from there,’’ she said.
The Minister reassured of the Federal Government’s commitment to intensifying efforts to rescue the remaining girls in captivity and expressed appreciation to all those involved in the rescue mission.
The chairman of the parents of the abducted school girls, Yakubu Nkeki, said their joy had no bounds and thanked President Muhammadu Buhari.
So far, a total of 106 Chibok school girls, out of the 219 captured on the night of April 14, 2014, have been rescued.
Some have been radicalised and have refused to return. It is feared that some have been used in suicide bombings.
