Malala pays 3-day visit to Nigeria, meets President Jonathan

Miss Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl who was almost lost her life after an attack by the Taliban in her country’s Swat Valley District for her girl education campaigns, has commenced a three-day visit to Nigeria. The 17-year-old girl met with President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
During the meeting, the President promised her that he will soon meet with parents of the over 200 schoolgirls abducted in Chibok, Borno State on April 14. President Jonathan also assured her that the abducted girls would soon regain their freedom, noting that his government would grant scholarship to the girls to study in other parts of the country. After a closed-door session with the President, Malala told State House correspondents that she conveyed the voices of out-of-school girls in Nigeria, the abducted girls and those who escaped from their abductors to the President Jonathan.

The 17-year-old said, “I am here in Nigeria on my 17th birthday for a price which is to see that every child goes to school. This year, my objective is to speak up for my Nigerian sisters about 200 of them who are under the abduction of Boko haram and I met the President, Goodluck Jonathan for this purpose. I conveyed the voice of my sisters who are out of school or who are still under the abduction of Boko Haram. And for those girls who escaped from the abduction but still do not have education. And in the meeting, I highlighted the same issues which the girls and their parents told me in the past two days”.

Malala further noted that “The parents said they really want to meet with the President to share their stories with him. And I asked the President if he wants to meet with the parents of the girls, the President assured me that he would meet with them. I spoke to the President about the girls who complained that they cannot go to school despite the fact that they want to become doctors, engineers and teachers. But the government is not providing them any facility. They also need health facility, security, and the government is not doing anything. These are the issues I presented to the President today. And the President fortunately promised me that he will do something for these girls and he promised me that the girls under the abduction of Boko haram will be released as soon as possible. This is the promise the President made and I am hopeful that his promise will come through and we will soon see those girls return soon”.