Everything must be done to rescue Chibok girls — US

The United States has urged the Federal Government and its citizens to do everything possible to ensure the safe return of the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted from their school hostel in Chibok, Borno State. The Nigerian Military had on Thursday, stated that it would not be in a hurry to rescue the Chibok girls who were abducted in April 2014. The Acting Director, Defence Information, Military Headquarters, Col. Rabe Abubakar, said that while it was of utmost concern to the military to rescue the girls, the operation required adequate patience and planning. According to the US acting Consul General, Dehab Ghebreab, who spoke at the red-carpet première of the Hollywood crime-drama thriller, ‘Captive’, in Lagos State recently, the US government would stand against individuals and groups, who target people for violence, persecution or discrimination based on their religion. She said, “Nigeria has its share of humanitarian problems with Internally Displaced People due to the vicious atrocities of Boko Haram. In 2014, the United States provided about $11 million for humanitarian assistance to Nigeria and we continue to support Nigeria to crush Boko Haram. On this day (Thursday), the Chibok girls have been missing for 535 days. Everything humanly possible must be done to ‘Bring Back the Girls’.” She also expressed the US’ commitment to end extreme poverty in Nigeria and other African countries. The consul general noted that the US had the knowledge and technology necessary to end extreme poverty within two decades. “There is progress upon which to build; aggregate poverty rates are now falling for every region of the world, and there are 700 million fewer people living in extreme poverty today than in 1990. However, even with this progress, 1.2 billion people are still living in extreme poverty and the majority live in Africa,” the US diplomat added.