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President Goodluck Jonathan has expressed confidence that the over 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in their hostel   in Chibok, Borno State last year are still alive.

The President based his position on the fact that terrorists would naturally display the corpses of the girls if they had been killed.
He spoke while featuring on Kakaaki, a breakfast programme on a private television station, African Independent Television.

Reiterating his promise that the girls would be rescued alive, Jonathan said, "The good story is that they ( insurgents) have not killed them   because when terrorists kill, they display the corpses   to intimidate the people.‎
"So, these girls are alive. And so, we will get the girls. Luckily, we are narrowing down the areas of their(insurgents) control. So we will get them."

The President stressed that   security forces were   wary of storming the main stronghold of Boko Haram because the insurgents might   use the girls as human shields.
"Because they may use them as shields so we are working with the global best practices. We can't just move in with artillery and clear the place," he said.

The President however contradicted his earlier assertion during his Monday interview with the international   television news channel, Al Jazeera, that the Federal Government did not mishandle the Boko Haram insurgency.
Jonathan said, "Yes, I agree that at the beginning, probably we did not really estimate the capacity of Boko Haram. Boko Haram started as a non-violent group led by (Mohammed) Yusuf and limited to around Maiduguri, of course, from Yobe to Maiduguri. It did not even get up to Adamawa, muchless of Yobe or Kano or Bauchi.
"So, it started as a non-violent group. But just like every group made up of youths or young people taking to criminality, Boko Haram expanded their network and linked up with other terrorist organisations in North Africa. Of course like al-Qaeda and others all over the world. So, they continue to build their capacity."

While admitting that the nation, at a time, had issues procuring weapons to fight the insurgents, the President said the challenge had been overcome.
He disclosed that the country had been able to procure between 60 and 65 per cent of the weapons needed to prosecute the anti-terrorism war.

But Jonathan's assurance that the abducted girls would be freed was doused by the   Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, who said they might not be found.

Chidoka, who featured on a programme – BBC HARDTalk – monitored by one our correspondents in Abuja on Thursday, however expressed confidence that the   military would successfully dislodge   Boko Haram.

He said, " Boko Haram is a terror group. It has decimated the girls across vast areas, 98,000 square kilometres of land area in Borno State, which is even bigger than Scotland.
"The size of Borno State is bigger than Scotland and we don't have these girls packed in a room and waiting for ransom. This is an evil terror organisation."

When probed further to state if the   government will rescue the girls, the minister replied, "Well, as we dismantle them (Boko Haram) in their areas, we are going to see what is behind those lines; we are going to see what they are doing in those forests and maybe we will find them (Chobok girls), maybe not.
"But we are looking forward seriously to see what is behind those lines."

The minister   refuted claims that the United States   experts gave intelligence obtained from their drones to the Nigerian military and faulted reports that the Nigerian forces failed to act on the intelligence report from the US.
He said, "(That is) not correct, not correct, because every time they talk about intelligence they've given to Nigerians. We do know that at some point when we were in the middle of the major crisis, most of the intelligence we got from them was in relation to the Chibok girls."

Meanwhile, the Federal Government on Wednesday night had a closed-door meeting with parents and relatives of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.

Plans to get the girls released from Boko Haram captivity was discussed at the meeting attended by 30 parents of the kidnapped girls, five Chibok elders and three youth leaders from the community.

The Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil, represented Jonathan at the meeting which took place in Maiduguri, Borno State.

Wakil, according a statement on Thursday by his Special Adviser on Media, Olawale Rasheed,   assured the parents that the government remained committed to the safe return of the girls.

He told the parents that the government had devised comprehensive counter- insurgency strategies with four focal goals: reclaiming occupied territories; rescuing   abducted persons; resettling   internally displaced persons and rehabilitating insurgency ravaged communities.

The statement quoted the minister as saying , "Mr President is pursuing multi- faceted strategies which address the pains, anger and frustrations of victims . Our President directed me to tell you that his government is committed to doing everything possible for the safe return of your daughters.

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