Address by
The Hon. Minister of State, FCT
On the Occasion of Visit by
#Bring Back Our Girls Campaigners
Thursday, 22nd May, 2014
PROTOCOLS
1. Good afternoon, my dear brothers and sisters. As the Minister of State of this great City, Abuja and as a mother like some of you, I, on behalf of Mr. President welcome you all home to the seat of the Federal Government.
2. The Federal Government is appreciative and supportive of the efforts of your group amongst so many other groups around the world, who have taken out time to demonstrate their disgust and solidarity against the wicked kidnapping of innocent school girls and the senseless mayhem of the Boko Haram terrorists.
3. Many other groups have sent messages of solidarity and support to the Federal Government in writing and we want to use this opportunity to thank them.
4. For a government that has placed so much premium on addressing major areas of reform and development in the nation, especially the development of women and the girl-child through increased investment in girl-child education and added opportunity for women, this wicked act has been indeed very painful.
5. Our present world is under the grip of terrorism. Yesterday, a market in China where ordinary people go to shop was bombed. Two days ago, terrorists visited our beautiful town of Jos and detonated bombs killing scores of people.
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Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide
FCT Minister of State |
6. The communities of Kano, Maiduguri, Abuja, Nyanya, Madallah, amongst others, have at various times been bombed. Churches, mosques, parks and newspaper houses have not been spared. Terrorists and their sponsors have brought terrorism to our land. This is sad. This we must resist.
7. In the last three weeks, our country has been in the spotlight. Some evil individuals who call themselves Boko Haram abducted our daughters, the future mothers of our nation, and have refused to release them. This evil act has sparked protests all over the world. This is as it should be. There must be a united movement for the release of our daughters and that movement must now be turned into a united action against terrorism.
8. Government has mobilized available resources, Military and diplomatic in the search for our girls who have suffered so much trauma in captivity by agents of terror.
9. From the very first day this kidnapping occurred the Federal Government took action, directing our security services to go after the abductors. The search for our daughters has now assumed regional and global proportion and our nation has received strong support from our neighbouring countries and the international community including the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, among others.
10. The security forces also reached out to the Borno state government and community members for support and collaboration to bring back our innocent daughters. So far, the campaign to bring our daughters back home is on, and is receiving global support.
