By Our Correspondent
The 103 schoolgirls so far released from captivity after being taken by Islamist militants Boko Haram in Chibok will go back to school in September, the minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan has said.
She said the rehabilitation centre in the capital, Abuja, where some of the girls have been kept, will be closed adding that the girls include the 82 released last Saturday.
She told journalists that the young women were “stable” and “cheerful” compared to how the 21 freed last year were on their release.
“Their psychological state is better than when these ones [the 21] came, so I believe between now and September these other ones should be able to stabilise and we will be able to take all of them to school in September,” she said.
“As a lay person, not as a medical doctor, I feel that medically too they are not too bad,” she added.
She also said the government will continue seeking experts’ advice on the girls’ psychological state.
Alhassan said girls at the centre had been receiving psychological care and were not “having nightmares anymore”.
Those that were released on Saturday will be also be admitted to the vocational centre, where they will get skills training.
She said the young women were not being held against their will but were free to leave the centre. At least one is currently visiting her family but her plans were being kept secret, she added.
Boko Haram militants are thought to be still holding more than 100 of the 276 taken from Chibok three years ago.
Leave a Reply