Norway funds safe education in Northern Nigeria

Norway has allocated Krone 10 million (more than US$1.8) to efforts aimed at promoting safe schooling for girls in northern Nigeria and help to the communities affected by the recent abductions in Chibok. This follows the Boko Haram’s kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls, which Norway said was an unacceptable attack on girls’ right to education. Norway will also consider providing humanitarian assistance for refugees and internally displaced people in the area, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende. "I am deeply concerned about the situation of the abducted girls in Nigeria. The Government condemns Boko Haram’s brutal abduction of the schoolgirls in the strongest possible terms. My thoughts are with the girls and their families,"said Brende. Boko Haram’s brutal attack on the school in Chibok in Borno State in April and the group’s kidnapping of over 200 girls from the school has attracted attention both in Nigeria and in the rest of the world. The girls have still not been found, and a further 11 girls were kidnapped in the same state on May 6. According Norway, of the 60 million children worldwide who do not currently attend school, over 10 million are in Nigeria, and more than half of this number are girls.