American church asks to sponsor four Chibok girls’ university education

The Church of the Servant King, Gardena, California has asked for approval from the Nigerian government to sponsor the university education of four of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls who recently regained freedom.

The request was made through a letter by the pastor of the church, Richard Read, to the Minster for Women Affairs, Jummai Alhassan.

The contact person of the church in Nigeria, Mercel Sunny, who delivered the letter to the minister, made a copy available to PREMIUM TIMES in Gombe on Wednesday.

The church said it has made arrangement for the admission of the girls into HOPE International University, Fullerton, California for the 2017/18 academic session.

The church said it would sponsor the university education of the girls in order to give them hope and a better life.

“Back in the 70s and 80s, we sponsored 30 Cambodian people,” the church stated in the letter.

“We assisted them in assimilating and establishing new lives in a new world and lived in our homes with us. We believe this situation warrants the same kind of response.

“We are well prepared to love and care for these young women while they are in the US. Our prayers are that these four will achieve success to counterbalance the horror they went through with the Boko Haram,” part of the letter read.

The church disclosed that a number of benefactors would offset the expenses of the girls for university education in the U.S.

The church’s letter did not specify the names of the girls, indicating that it would accept any four willing and qualified for admission to the U.S. university.

Boko Haram terrorists kidnapped over 200 girls from their school in Chibok, Borno state in North-east Nigeria while the girls were writing their school certificate examinations in April 2014.

About 82 of the girls were released in May following negotiation between their Boko Haram captors and the Nigerian government.