The Federal Government has confirmed that 110 students of theGovernment Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, are sofar unaccounted for, after insurgents believed to be from a faction ofBoko Haram invaded their school on 19 Feb.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,announced the figure after a meeting in Damaturu between a Federal GovernmentDelegation and representatives of Yobe state government,the college, the parents, security agencies andBursari local government, where Dapchi is situated.
He said, based on the briefings from the Principal of the College,Hajia Adama Abdulkarim, and the state Commissioner for Education, Mohammed Lami, 110 out of 906 students, have not been accounted
for. All the students were in the school on the day of the attack
Alhaji Mohammed also announced that the Federal Government hasdirected the police and civil defence authorities in Yobe State toimmediately deploy their personnel to all the schools in the state inorder to ensure the security and safety of the students and theirstaffers.
The Minister disclosed that the Federal Government has stepped upefforts to rescue the girls and return them safely to their parents,saying the security agencies are working on many leads regarding the
whereabouts of the girls.
This is the second time in four days that a Federal Governmentdelegation would visit Yobe State since the unfortunate incident. Thisis a measure of the seriousness with which we are addressing theissue. The security forces are leaving no stone unturned in theirsearch for the girls.
We are back here in Yobe as part of efforts to provide some succourto the parents of the girls, to let them know that they are not aloneand also to reassure them that we will not rest until we have foundthe girls. We will carry the parents along on the efforts we aremaking, he said.
For his part, the Minister of Interior, Lt. General Abdulrahman Danbazau said the delegation embarked onthe trip in order to get the facts right so that the approach to thesolution can be correct.
We must get back the girls and also ensure that this does not happenagain, he said.
The Federal Government delegation, which comprised the Ministers ofInformation and Culture as well as that of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retired), held an enlarged meeting that was attended by Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State; members of the state cabinet, the Principal and Vice Principal of the school, representatives of the parents of the missing girls and security agencies, among others.
Source: NAN