The Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis 1, represented by Rev. Fr. George Ajana, President of Pontifical Mission Societies (Nigeria) during this year’s World Mission Sunday, at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Pro-Cathedral, Area 3, Abuja has said the 21 Chibok girls released from Sambisa forest need psychological evaluation conducted by experts.
Pope Francis who urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to provide psychological rehabilitation for the girls, being part of the 40 girls rescued, so far in his address said:
“The release of the 21 Chibok girls is victory, it is a very good sign and we are thanking God for it that some of the Chibok girls were released. Nigerians have been celebrating all this while, the church joins them in the celebration and we are one with them.
So, we first of all thank God that a few of them, just 21 were released. The Chibok girls need medical assistance; the government is doing that already. They have been taken to hospital. I think they will need psychological rehabilitation. The government need to bring in experts to stabilise them because they must have gone through a lot of trauma.
"I don’t think they will be their normal selves any longer. So, the Chibok girls need to be psychologically brought back to their real life. And we need to pray for them; the church will be very happy to do that. We keep praying for the release of the rest because they are human beings to be respected. The life of one person is as important as the lives of the whole nation, which must be respected."
In the same vein, the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto is very grateful to the Almighty God for the release of the 21 Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram while praying God for the safe release of the remaining girls and others abducted by the Terrorist group.
It would be recalled that in May 2014, the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto went on a peaceful campaign for the release of the abducted girls.
