Buhari Approves 116m For Freed Chibok Girls Studying In Atiku’s University

***Move Contradicts Ex-VP’s 100% Free Scholarships For The Schoolgirls

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday approved the payment of N164.7 million as school fees for 106 freed Chibok girls studying at the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, Adamawa state.

The Presidency in a statement on Sunday, said the money is for the second-semester fees of the girls.

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According to the statement the girls commenced studies at AUN in September 2017.

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is the founder of the institution.

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Recall that in April 2014, Boko Haram insurgents abducted 276 girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state.

After more than a year in captivity, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration secured the release of about 106 of them in two tranches.

Also confirming the development, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said: “Having successfully achieved the desired goals of the rehabilitation and reintegration programme, with recorded significant improvement in the academic performance of the girls, in September, a final send-off party was organised for the 106 Chibok girls and they were subsequently moved to the American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola for their foundation studies and continuation of their education.

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“The AUN had successfully established a foundation school for 14 out of the 57 Chibok girls who escaped while the rest of their classmates were taken to the Sambisa forest by Boko Haram.

“The absorption of the 106 girls into the school marked the beginning of their integration into the larger Nigerian society, thus fulfilling president Buhari’s promise of providing the best education for them.

“Although they have been officially handed over to their parents, the federal government will continue to be responsible for the payment of the Chibok girls’ school fees right up to their graduation from the school.”

The move by the Buhari administration to pay the fees of the girls also contradicts promise made by Atiku in 2014, who said the AUN foundation will offer full scholarship for the girls.

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