Chibok girls: FG releases $10m Safe School Initiative fund

The Federal Government yesterday released the $10 million (N1.6 billion) Safe School Initiative fund it promised on May 9, in the wake of the abduction of over 200 Chibok schoolgirls in Borno State.
Speaking at an interactive meeting with a business delegation from Germany, led by the German Ambassador and  Minister of Economic Development, Mr. Gerd Mueller,  Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the approval for the release of the fund was given on Wednesday by the president.
According to her, with the approval, the $10 million would be transferred into a  special trust fund account, adding that the Federal Government would be meeting with top officials from the World Bank, African Development Bank and the United Kingdom to fine-tune strategies on the governing structure of the fund.
She revealed that the structure would include representatives from the civil societies, the private sector, international donors, the states and the Federal Government.
Besides World Bank, ADB and the UK partners, the Norwegian government had also pledged its support for the project.
“There are numbers of measures that Gordon Brown and others have put in place to provide incentives for children to go to school. Our private sector is donating $10 million which is hinged on the government coming up immediately with a matching fund and as of yesterday, the president has approved that sum and we are opening a trust fund to deposit the money on Friday and so that money will be lodged there,” she said.
In her view, the  terrorists’ activities would not affect the economy because investors were still interested in the critical sectors of the economy.
The minister listed three priority areas Nigeria would want Germany’s assistance. These areas include, skills, manufacturing and development bank.
“There are three things we are looking for from Germany. We admired the way Germany has been able to marry skills in its education system to industry. We just launched our industrial revolution plan. We think we need to manufacture more things in Nigeria because we got a large market and we think that Germany can be of assistance by sharing with us the knowledge on how it has been able to organise itself so that we can have the right skills for the right industry.
“The second area of assistance is manufacturing and is very important. We admire   the way you built your development bank. Nigeria is building a Development Bank of Nigeria. The president and the vice president have pushed very hard for us to have long-term money in this economy. We want you to support us. We are negotiating with you about $200 million soft credit support on this. The last area is investment. We want your business people to invest in our manufacturing.    We have a very large consumer sector and Germany manufactures high quality things, from electronics, consumables and power. You have big opportunity to do that in Nigeria. These are the three things I want you to think about,” she said.
On Mueller’s request to enlighten the German delegation on the sociology-economic developments in the country with respect to the North-East and the Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram, the minister said all hands were on the deck working for the safe release of the abducted girls.