Boko Haram: Buhari, Swiss President speaks on possible release of Chibok girls

President Muhammadu Buhari and his Swiss counterpart Alain Berset yesterday met in Katowice, Poland where new strategies were mapped out for the release of the remaining Chibok girls.

The bilateral meeting held on the margins of the UN Climate Change Conference, COP24.

The two leaders discussed strategies to ensure the safe return of the girls, building on the past successes of securing the release of some of the Chibok girls and other abducted persons in the North Eastern part of Nigeria.

Recall that 276 female students were kidnapped from Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State in April 2014 during President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan by the Boko Haram insurgents. Some of the girls have been released following high powered negotiation.

Buhari, according to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, pledged that his government will not rest until the remaining Chibok girls are safely released.

Buhari thanked the Swiss Confederation for its efforts and important role as intermediaries to secure the release of some Chibok girls and assured him that the issue of the remaining kidnapped girls and other abducted persons will remain a ‘’key priority’’ for the Nigerian government.

He also welcomed the Swiss President’s commitment to continue providing humanitarian assistance to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria and to ensure the safe release of the abducted school girls.

‘‘We will continue to make the safe release of the remaining Chibok girls a priority and will welcome any kind of support from any quarters to make this happen, ‘’ he said.

In separate bilateral meetings with the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda and the Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, President Buhari commended the country for a successful outing at the opening of the COP24 meeting in Katowice.

The President told his Polish counterpart that Nigeria was facing serious climate change challenges, particularly the receding Lake Chad, which is a source of livelihood to some 40 million people living in the region.