Federal Government Pledges to Rescue Abducted Kebbi Schoolgirls

Federal Government Pledges to Rescue Abducted Kebbi Schoolgirls.

The Federal Government has told the nation that it is taking all necessary steps to secure the freedom of the female students kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School in Maga, located in Kebbi State’s Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area.

This assurance comes after an early morning attack on the school this past Monday, where armed men reportedly shot and killed a member of the school staff before taking a number of students with them.

In a statement made on his official X (formerly Twitter) account on Monday, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, expressed that the government feels the anguish of the families who are living through this tragedy.

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The minister shared that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has once again stated that the government’s most serious duty is to ensure the safety of all Nigerians, particularly children in schools.

Idris described the attack as unacceptable and said that Nigeria’s security and intelligence services have received direct orders to find the missing girls and ensure they are brought back to their families without harm.

“We will not let up in our efforts until these students are back home safely and those responsible for this act are made to answer for it,” the minister stated.

He also confirmed that the government is maintaining constant communication with all the security units carrying out the rescue operation.

The minister went on to say that a central goal of the government’s current security changes is to stop such attacks from happening in the future.

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“We want to reassure every Nigerian that making the country safer is our main focus. The Federal Government is in the process of adjusting our military, police, and intelligence systems to better stop these kinds of attacks and to react more quickly and effectively when they are threatened,” Idris explained.

The minister also mentioned that Nigeria is cooperating with neighbouring countries through groups like ECOWAS, the African Union, and the Multinational Joint Task Force.

“Our work involves making our borders more secure and breaking up the networks used by terrorists and criminal groups,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, the Nigeria Police Force had confirmed the incident in a message on its WhatsApp channel. The police noted that its officers exchanged gunfire with the attackers before the gunmen managed to flee with the students.

According to the police update, specialized units, along with the military and other security agencies, have been sent to search known paths used by bandits and the nearby forest areas for any trace of the victims and their abductors.