The Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, has said the current Federal Government places more priority on the recovery of the abducted Chibok school girls than the protection of oil facilities.
Recall that over 200 secondary school girls were abducted in 2014 from Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State.
Kachikwu made the disclosure while featuring on Quest Means Business on CNN anchored by Richard Quest on Monday.
Responding to a critic of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, who said “the oil is better than the human,” Kachikwu said, “not quite so, at all. On the contrary, since President Muhammadu Buhari resumed, I think his first steps were targeted at the northeast and the Chibok girls.”
He added, “If you remember, most of his first state visits were to neighbouring countries, trying to gather alignment among neighbouring countries’ military forces in fighting this issue, and the military has been engaged in that territory.
“One of the crisis the president had to inherit, was the fact that once he came in, he found that monies that were allocated to the military to be able to deal with these issues, were largely diverted, and he spent a lot of time trying to find funds.”
The Minister also disclosed that the government is yet to locate the abducted girls.
“We haven’t found the girls and it’s sorrowful for every Nigerian who thinks about it.
”I have children, the last thing I want is for people’s children to be in the forest abandoned, and we are doing everything we can. I sympathise with all parents who are in this situation, but the president hasn’t given up on this,” he added.
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