SHAME: FG admits 110 Dapchi girls are missing , steps up rescue efforts

By Tunde Johnson. Abuja

  Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the figure after a meeting between a Federal Government

delegation and representatives of key stakeholders, including the state government, the college, the parents, security agencies and

Bursari local government, where Dapchi is situated, in Damaturu on Sunday.

He said, based on the briefings from Hajia Adama Abdulkarim Principal of the College and Mohammed Lamin, the state Commissioner for Education, 906 students – out of whom 110 have not been accounted for – were in the school on the day of the attack.

Mohammed also announced that the Federal Government has directed the police and civil defence authorities in Yobe State to immediately deploy their personnel to all the schools in the state in order to ensure the security and safety of the students and their staffers.

He disclosed that the Federal Government has stepped up efforts to rescue the girls and return them safely to their parents, saying the security agencies are working on many leads regarding the whereabouts of the girls.

”This is the second time in four days that a Federal Government delegation would visit Yobe State since the unfortunate incident. This is a measure of the seriousness with which we are addressing the issue. The security forces are leaving no stone un-turned in their search for the girls.

”We are back here in Yobe as part of efforts to provide some succour to the parents of the girls, to let them know that they are not alone and also to reassure them that we will not rest until we have found the girls. We will carry the parents along on the efforts we are making,” he said.

For his part, the Minister of Interior said the delegation embarked on the trip in order to get the facts right ”so that the approach to the solution can be correct”.

”We must get back the girls and also ensure that this does not happen again,” he said.

The Federal Government delegation, which comprised the Ministers of Information and Culture as well as that of Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retired), Minister of Interior,  held an enlarged meeting that was attended by Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State; members of the state cabinet, the Principal and Vice Principal of the school, representatives of the parents of the missing girls and security agencies, among others.