… As President Jonathan Meets With Ex-British PM Brown, Shettima, Gaidam To Seal Final Deal
BEVERLY HILLS, CA, June 17, (THEWILL) – President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday made good his promise to embark on a Safe School Initiative in response to the general insecurity in the North-east of the country following the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram in Borno State.
He has therefore directed the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, to open a N1.6 billion trust fund account specifically dedicated to the initiative.
The directive came on a day the President met with the former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who is currently the UN Special Envoy for Education; Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima and his Yobe State counterpart, Ibrahim Gaidam at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja to put finishing touches to the Safe School Initiative inaugurated during the opening session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa hosted by Nigeria in Abuja last month.
Speaking on the outcome of the meeting between Brown, the two governors and President Jonathan, Okonjo Iweala, confirmed that a N1.6bn trust fund account will soon be opened with another counterpart fund of N1.6bn to be provided by private sector operators.
According to the Minister, “Mr. President has kicked off this initiative by opening and instructing that I open a trust fund for which we have already committed N1.6 billion. The private sector is also putting N1.6 bn Prime Minister Gordon Brown is going to raise some resources and the governors are also making some commitment.” On his part, Brown said he came with a message of support from the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon, to Nigeria on the Safe School Initiative.
“I just came from a meeting with the President. Every child is special, precious and unique. I have come here with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon giving me his support to do so; to send our sympathy and our solidarity and support to the children of Chibok who have been cruelly abducted and to give our support to the families of these girls and to the whole communities in Borno State.
“And I am here to say that we wish, as an international community, to do everything we can to back up the efforts of President Goodluck Jonathan and the governors of the states to ensure these girls are returned to their families, and at the same time, ensure that every parent feels that they can send their children to school knowing they will be safe in the future.
“And that is why we are launching the Safe School Initiative; and that is why the President has decided to set up this fund that will allow the international community, as well as local donors to contribute to making our schools in our country safer.
“We also want to help the rebuilding of Chibok schools because we want parents in that area to be sure that when their girls are released they can come home to a school that is rebuilt and safe. And we want to help in rebuilding the schools in other areas where schools have either been demolished or burnt down or vandalised.”
In the same vein, Governor Shettima said the process should not be politicised.
“While the situation is such that calls for sobriety and maturity, politics will be played at the appropriate time.
“We have given our commitment to partner with the Federal Government and the international community to ensure that we promptly address this problem confronting us. It is an issue that basically boils down to education, poverty, empowerment. By the grace of God, we want to give you our commitment that we are going to pursue this thing vigorously with all the resources, human and material, at our disposal and it will be completely devoid of politics.
“Times like this call for sobriety, maturity, for unity of purpose. At the appropriate time, we are going to play politics, but this is not time for playing politics with the lives of the people,” Shettima said.
Gaidam on his part said: “The initiative is going to be started in our three states, because we are the most affected areas in terms of the insurgency. We promise to give him (Jonathan) all the necessary support to ensure that the programme succeeds. “We are also going to partner with him and the Federal Government under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that this programme is successful at the end of the day.”
