Four more of the over 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram on April 14 from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, have escaped.

A 4pm RayPower FM network news monitored in Lagos said the good news broken in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, by Chairman of Chibok Local Government Area, Mr. Bana Lawan, during a one-day stakeholders meeting for validation of draft humanitarian response plan for the abducted girls organised by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Lawan, who was represented by the Director for Personnel and Management, Mr. Musa Elijah, said the number of escapees had risen to 57 as against 53, while 164 girls were still held by Boko Haram.

According to him, “The people of Chibok are anxiously waiting for the safe return of their children. Except for the unfortunate situation where two of the parents have passed on. They were known to have BP (blood pressure) issues, although I am not a medical expert, but they will not be opportune to welcome back their daughters.

“Latest report reaching us is that instead of 53, those that have escaped are now 57 and those remaining are 164 and not 168 as before. This is out of the 221 girls that were abducted.”

Lawan explained that it was not all those who registered for the Senior School Certificate Examination in the school that stayed back.

“Those that registered for the SSCE are not all that sat for the exam. Over 500 registered and those who had relatives around decided to move to various places like Kaduna and Maiduguri to write the exams. Those that were left with no relations decided to stay back to take the risk and among them 221 were abducted,” he stated.

The chairman said the morale of the girl child in the North-East was low as most of them were discouraged.

“The school in particular has been existing for long and the quality of education in it has been diminishing. So I want to appeal to the Federal Government, through NEMA and the presidential committee, to intervene in rebuilding the school,” he added.

Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, had on Monday announced that the military had located the girls and was working hard to rescue them. “The good news for the girls is that we know where they are but we cannot tell you,” Badeh had told demonstrators in the capital, Abuja as the hostage crisis entered its seventh week. “We are working. We will get the girls back,” he added.

•Photo shows some of the abducted Chibok girls who earlier escaped from Boko Haram’s grip.

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