Jonathan sets up new Boko Haram dialogue c’ttee

By Hassan Haruna Ginsau

President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a new committee to dialogue with the Boko Haram in a bid to bring an end to bloodshed caused by the group in the North- east of the country.

The 7-member committee, will attempt to negotiate with the group to drop their arms, and accept an amnesty package if they agree to a ceasefire.

Minister for special duties, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, who will chair the committee, told the Hausa service of the BBC that the committee would work in secret.

The Federal Government has in the past attempted to dialogue with the group and the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau rejected the talks.

…As Borno shuts 85 schools over insecurity

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State has ordered the closure of 85 government-owned secondary schools following security challenges.

The directive, which was inevitable, according to a Government House source in Maiduguri, was “an emergency precautionary measure” to safeguard the lives and property of the over 115,000 students and their teachers in both day and boarding secondary schools.

Complying with the governor’s directive, Borno State Commissioner of Education, Musa Inuwa Kubo, ordered the principals of secondary schools to close down their respective schools on or before Friday, March 14, 2014, until further notice.

Following the Friday attacks on Giwa Barracks by suspected Boko Haram insurgents, students of boarding secondary schools at Government Girls’ College (GGC) and Yerwa Girls’ Science Secondary School (YGSSS), Maiduguri, were advised to remain in their dormitories until the security situation improves to travel and join their parents within and outside Maiduguri, the state capital.

It was the following day (Saturday) that the students began to leave the school premises.

The Federal Government last week also closed two Federal Government Colleges at Monguno and Lassa in Borno State, following the killings of 59 students on February 24, 2014, at Federal Government College (FGC), Buni/Yadi in Yobe State.