Federal Government’s efforts at tracking and rescuing the abducted students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State has received a major boost from Britain, Canada, China and France.
Leaders of the four world powers, who met or spoke with President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday, pledged to deploy technologies and personnel to help Nigeria rescue the girls, who were abducted on April 14 by Boko Haram sect members.
The gesture came a day after United States President, Barack Obama, called President Jonathan to express the readiness of his administration to send troops and equipment to Chibok to rescue the victims. Nigeria immediately accepted the offer.
Of the 276 girls allegedly kidnapped by the insurgents, 223 are yet to be found while 53 have escaped and reunited with their families.
The State Department yesterday confirmed that the US would send only a 10-man military technical team to guard their Nigerian counterparts in the Chibok operation.
British Prime Minister, David Cameron, in his reaction to the abduction saga, said: “This is an act of pure evil. It has united people across the planet to stand with Nigeria to help find these children and return them to their parents.”
The prime minister said British agencies were already helping to educate 600,000 Nigerian girls and promised to offer further assistance to the country. He spoke with President Jonathan yesterday afternoon.
According to Cameron, “This is not just a Nigerian issue, it is a global issue.” He told the British parliamentarians that, “There are extreme Islamists around our world who are against education, progress, equality and we must fight them and take them on wherever they are.”
The Peoples Republic of China has also promised to assist the Federal Government to rescue the students.
Chinese Premier, Mr. Li Keqiang, at bilateral talks with President Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said “we will deploy troops and equipment in the country to help Nigeria secure the release of the girls.
This was made at a joint press conference at the end of the bilateral talks by the two leaders.
President Jonathan, who hinted of China’s offer to help, added that, “We agreed to deepen cooperation in the field of defence and security and strengthen cooperation in counterterrorism, anti-piracy and combating organised crimes.
“The Premier promised that China will assist Nigeria in the fight against terror, especially the commitment and efforts to rescuing the girls that were taken away from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State,” he said.
He added that China had also promised to assist the country in the development of its infrastructure like power, transportation, which includes air and railway.
In his remarks, the Chinese Premier said the two countries needed to strengthen their relationship and work together to fight terrorism.
The governments of France and Canada also said that this was the time Nigeria needs the help of friendly countries and promised not to leave President Jonathan alone at this trying time.
French President Francois Hollande through his spokesman, Stephane Le Foll said after a cabinet meeting yesterday chaired by Hollande that France would do everything to help Nigeria chase down this group and find the kidnapped hostages. “We are dealing with one of the most atrocious forms of terrorism because it involves kidnapping and trafficking children,” he added.
Similarly, Canadian Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, Christian Paradis, has expressed readiness of the country to assist Nigeria in the fight against terrorism.
In a statement made available to journalists yesterday by Vice President Namadi Sambo’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Umar Sani, said Paradis, during a visit to Sambo at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday, pledged that Canada would not stand aloof as Nigeria continued to confront its security challenges.
Sani said: “The minister remarked on the collaboration between Nigeria and Canada in strengthening bilateral relations on major issues, foreign investment agreement and on the long-standing partnership on the maternal and child welfare to ensure that the most vulnerable people were reached.