BY Taiwo George
Malala Yousafzai, a child rights campaign activist and the youngest Nobel Prize winner, has appealed to the Nigerian government to intensify its efforts in freeing the Chibok schoolgirls in the captivity of Boko Haram.
In a statement posted on her website, community.malala.org, Malala said there was a need for the schoolgirls to be reunited with their families in order to receive quality and safe education.
About 276 of them were abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state on April 14 and 40 of them managed to escape, while the remaining are yet to be accounted for.
Though their abduction generated a global campaign, nothing meaningful has been achieved in securing their freedom.
During her visit to Nigeria in July, Malala met with some of the girls who escaped. She also appealed Goodluck Jonathan, president of Nigeria, to meet with the families of the abductees.
However, she renewed her call for the freedom of the girls on Tuesday, saying a solution to the insurgency in Nigeria must be found quickly.
“Six months after the Boko Haram kidnapping of 273 Nigerian school girls, we must raise our voices again and louder than ever to demand that the more than 200 girls still in captivity be freed, reunited with their families, and receive a quality and safe education,” she said.
“I urge the Nigerian government and the international community to redouble their efforts to bring a quick and peaceful conclusion to this crisis.”
Malala was shot by members of Taliban, an extremist group in Pakistan, for advocating for the rights of girls and women to education.
She had underwent series of surgeries before surviving the attack.
Malala has become prominent since that incident, winning several awards and recognition.
On Monday, Time named her alongside, Malia and Sasha, daughters of Barrack Obama, among the most influential teenagers in the world.
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