The General
Advisor, British Military Advisory and Training Team (BMATT) in Nigeria, Major
Ian Robertson, while condemning the attack and abduction of scores of students
of Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), Dapchi in Yobe State by
suspected
Boko Haram insurgents, yesterday, pledged the willingness of the British
military to assist in the rescue of the girls.
Expressing
worries that girls’ schools have become soft targets for insurgents, Robertson,
speaking at a forum organised by Partners West Africa-Nigeria on prioritising
the voices of women in security organisations based on National Action Plan on
Women (2017-2020), disclosed that his team was still monitoring the situation closely,
after which it will come in.
He said:
“Having heard about this particular issue recently, I am still trying to get
more information about what is going on, but it is clearly very disappointing
that something like this has happened, that the girls have been taken.
“But let me
reassure you, from the British military perspective, that we are monitoring the
event quite closely and we are cooperating with the armed forces of Nigeria to
see how we can assist.”
While he
could not comment on the attitude of Nigerian government towards the abduction,
he, however, noted that he was working at a very basic level to ensure that the
training his team provides for Nigerian armed forces has a gender perspective.
He expressed
the need for a military action plan for Nigerian women, the British soldier
stated that Europe as a whole has embraced the idea of gender perspective and
security.
Earlier,
Executive Director, Partners West Africa, Ms. Kemi Okenyodo, stated that the
gathering was aimed at facilitating a holistic security sector reform processes
in the northeast.
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