American billionaire pledges to support the Chibok girls

The Presidency on Tuesday said a black American billionaire, Mr. Robert Smith, had offered to foot the education bill

of the 21 freed Chibok schoolgirls.

The Presidency also said that 11 persons believed to be members of a syndicate responsible for the presence of 50,000 ghost workers on the Federal Government’s payroll had been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for further investigation and prosecution.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists.

Shehu said although the 21 Chibok girls released recently by the Boko Haram sect had been adopted by the Federal Government, many local and international interests had expressed the desire to educate them for free.


He said, “A black American billionaire, Mr. Robert Smith, who is currently sponsoring the education of 24 girls from Chibok, among them the first set of escapees from Boko Haram at the 
American University of Nigeria, Yola has offered to pay for the education of the 21 released through negotiations.

“He is offering to take responsibility for all the others who will hopefully be eventually set free. The Murtala Muhammed Foundation in the country is equally interested,” he said.

Shehu added that some of the suspects involved in the ghost workers scam were already undergoing trial.

He explained that the Efficiency Unit of the Federal Ministry of Finance created by the present administration was able to uncover the 50,000 ghost workers and saved the nation of N13bn monthly during the year.

Shehu said the amount was taken off the government’s payroll from February to December.

Punch