ABUJA – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on Thursday said he would send a high-level representative to Nigeria to discuss how the UN could support the Nigerian government’s efforts to tackle insurgency.
A statement issued by the secretary-general spokesman from Rome said Ban made the offer which was accepted by President Goodluck Jonathan on telephone.
“He called to personally express his deep concern at the fate of the recently kidnapped schoolgirls in Borno State and to express his solidarity with the people of Nigeria, and especially the girls’ families.
It stated that Jonathan briefed the secretary-general on the current state of the search for the abducted girls.
Worldwide condemnation had trailed the April 14 abduction of over 200 school girls in Chibok, for which Boko Haram had claimed responsibility.
In his opening speech at the ongoing World Economic Forum on Africa in Abuja, Jonathan thanked China, the U.S., United Kingdom and France, for their offer to rescue the girls.
Similarly, an open letter published on Thursday by a group of more than 40 eminent individuals from around the world, called for a global effort to free the school girls kidnapped last month.
The high level group of business, civil society and religious leaders, called on the Nigerian authorities and international community to mobilise all necessary resources and expertise to help locate and free the missing girls.
Some of the signatories to the letter are’ Martti Ahtisaari, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Mohammed Azab, Representative of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and President Fernando H. Cardoso, the former Brazilian President.
Bill and Melinda Gates, Co-Founders and Co-Chairs of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also signed the letter. (NAN)