Abducted girls: Lagos Speaker hails US offer of assistance

Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, on Monday commended the US Government on its pledge to assist Nigeria in the rescue of the abducted schoolgirls in Borno State. Ikuforiji, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Adebayo, said the promise of assistance by the US government was heart warming.

“The news that the US has pledged to assist Nigeria in the efforts at rescuing the abducted school girls is most heart warming. “And it could not have come at a better time when the whole world is getting agitated about the non-release of the girls,” the statement said. The lawmaker said it was highly commendable for the US Senate to have passed a resolution condemning the abduction of the schoolgirls in Nigeria. He added that it was equally praiseworthy for the President Barack Obama to have acceded to the resolution of the US Senate, calling on the government to assist Nigeria in the rescue efforts. Ikuforiji also said that it was equally encouraging that US Secretary of State, Senator John Kerry, had expressed the willingness of the country to speedily come to assist Nigeria. The speaker appealed to the Federal Government to be more proactive and make Nigeria safer for her citizens. He said that consideration should be given for the establishment of state police, so as to curb the insurgency effectively. “Nigeria can no longer afford to operate a unitary police system that concentrates its command structure at the centre anymore. Efforts must urgently be made to embrace the state police system that will make governors the chief security officers in their states, as stipulated in the Nigerian constitution. “Anything short of that portends grave danger for the wellbeing of our nation,” Ikuforiji said. NAN reports that the US government had on May 2 offered to help Nigeria in its search for the girls abducted by insurgents from their school in Chibok, Borno, last month. Mrs. Marie Harf, the spokeswoman, State Department, said the US would continue to have discussions with Nigeria on how it could help. “We have been engaged with the Nigerian government in discussions on what we might do to help support their efforts to find and free these young girls,’’ she added.