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FOUR MORE GIRLS than previously thought escaped from their captures in Nigeria last month.
Authorities in northeast Nigeria yesterday revised downward by four the number of schoolgirls held captive by Boko Haram, denying media reports that the hostages had escaped from the Islamists in recent days.
A source at the government in northeastern Borno state who requested anonymity said the number of girls who are currently missing was now 219, not 223 as previously reported by most media.
Police in Borno said 276 girls were kidnapped by the Islamists on April 14 from a secondary school in the town of Chibok.
Hostages
Authorities had said that 53 of the hostages had escaped in the first days following the attack.
But, following closer investigation, it emerged that in fact 57 had run to freedom shortly after the attack but that the parents of four girls had neglected to inform officials that their children had safely returned, according to the source.
Borno’s education commissioner, the point man on the hostage crisis, revealed the revised figures to members of a presidential committee when the panel visited the state capital Maiduguri last week, the source added.
Furious
The commissioner “was furious with the parents for keeping the government in the dark,” about the fact their children were among those who had escaped, the source added.
Nigeria’s remote northeast has a poor mobile phone network and shoddy roads, hampering communication in an area hit hard by Boko Haram’s deadly five-year uprising.
Some local media on Wednesday reported that the girls had escaped in recent days or had perhaps been released by the Islamists after falling ill.
Calculating the number of girls taken in the attack has been hampered from the outset by conflicting reports from parents, officials and the security forces.
Days after the attack, the military said all but eight girls had been freed, a claim that was swiftly retracted.
Some parents in Chibok have insisted that more than 300 girls were taken, but in recent weeks most media have reported the figures provided by police in Borno, which have the backing of the state government.
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Welcome to the reality of supporting some one with a difference here , talk to parents and siblings about how we have to fight for everything.
Fair play to the foster carers for contacting the Ombudsman and therefore going up against Tusla and the HSE. Not a decision taken lightly. There is a bullying mentality when you go against these agencies. Hopefully now the child and her family will get the supports they need. It’s disgraceful that the family had to put themselves through the stress and pressure to get the outcome.
@Clare Sharkey: Sad thing is that TUSLA are in the process of moving the child into a residential type setting and removing her from the wonderful foster family. Wouldn’t it be much easier to put the supports in place and leave her with the loving foster family.
@Lorraine Roche: its a power struggle. Easier to blame foster carers than themselves.
It’s not only children with disabilities who are in care the system is failing it’s children with disabilities full stop. Your child with a disability is accepted into a service-8-18 disability service- they then have to go on waiting lists within that service for Speech& Language, Occupational Therapy, Psychologist etc…. Services are badly organised and seriously under resourced.
A certain spectacle Senator with his “human rights activists” friends will be working tirelessly on this one.
“bespectacled
@Are roo from Cork: think you were right first time.
Abandoned at birth !!!!!????
The poor Girl can expect a lifetime of neglect by the state, funding is ridiculously low in the intellectual disability area, from childhood right through to Adult services!
The Government should take control of all services and streamline while increasing funding – the current system with dozens of organisations with CEO’s on mainly over €100k with generous expenses is putting tax money into the wrong hands instead of into the frontline where conditions have plummeted and staff under severe pressure are leaving disillusioned!
Put the money where it matters and strip away the red tape to give those with disabilities the services they deserve- too much of a gravy train at present!
@David Grey: leo will be in shortly saying how “it shouldn’t be like this”
have your say