Mrs. Graca – Machel, widow of the late Nelson Mandela, former South African President, has arrived Nigeria to lend her support to Women Empowerment Initiatives. Mrs. Aisha Oyebode, the Chief Executive Officer of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF), a non-profit organization, has confirmed she will participate in several programs supported by the Murtala Muhammed Foundation and the African Leadership Group, which includes the African Leadership Academy and the African Leadership University in Johannesburg and Mauritius respectively.
Mrs Machel’s first stop of call is a closed door meeting with the parents of some of the abducted students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State abducted over a year ago by the Boko Haram terror group. Mrs Oyebode confirmed that this will definitely be of help to the parents as they continue to grapple with the trauma of the abduction.
It would be recalled that on the night of 14–15 April 2014, 276 female students were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State and many of them are still being held. Responsibility for the kidnappings was claimed by Boko Haram, a terrorist organization operating in northeast Nigeria.