Abducted schoolgirls:Bill Gates, Tutu, Salim, 43 others demand action

Forty-six eminent business, civil society and religious leaders from around the world issued a joint open letter yesterday calling for global action and resources to rescue the more than 200 abducted Chibok schoolgirls. Four Nigerians—Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela, billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote and his daughter Halima, and Mrs Toyin Saraki—are among those on the list […]

Forty-six eminent business, civil society and religious leaders from around the world issued a joint open letter yesterday calling for global action and resources to rescue the more than 200 abducted Chibok schoolgirls.
Four Nigerians—Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela, billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote and his daughter Halima, and Mrs Toyin Saraki—are among those on the list of signatories to the letter.
The high-level group called on Nigerian authorities and international community to mobilise all necessary resources and expertise to help free the missing girls, who were taken from the Government Secondary School Chibok, Borno State on April 14.
The signatories also include South African Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, former Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity Salim Ahmed Salim, former Botwana president Festus Mogae, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Sudanese philanthropist Mo Ibrahim and his daughter Hadeel, CNN founder Ted Turner, as well as Mohamed Azab, representative of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar.
The letter said, “On April 14, more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted at gunpoint from Chibok community in Borno State, Nigeria. 24 days later, the girls are still missing.
“We urge all local, national and regional governments, with the full support of the international community, to dedicate their expertise and resources – from satellite imagery to intelligence services to multinational corporations’ supply chains – to #BringBackOurGirls.”
Other signatories to the letter are Nobel laureate Martti Ahtisaari; Aïcha Bah Diallo, chairperson of the Forum of African Women Educationalists; Ela Bhatt, founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India; Bono, Co-founder, ONE; Bobby Shriver, Co-founder and Chairman of (PRODUCT) RED and Co-founder of DATA; Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, Bishop-Chancellor, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, The Vatican; and Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group.
Also on the list are former Irish president Mary Robinson; Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo; Jochen Zeitz, former chairman and CEO of PUMA; Mark Malloch-Brown, former United Nations Deputy Secretary-General; Strive Masiyiwa, founder of Econet Wireless and B Team Leader; Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women; Amina J Mohammed, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advisor; Jay Naidoo, Chair of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition; Ronald Perelman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc; and François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of Kering.
There are also Gro Harlem Brundtland, Executive Chair of the UN Foundation; Susan A Buffett, chairman of The Sherwood Foundation, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and the Buffett Early Childhood Fund; Kathy Calvin, President and CEO of the UN Foundation; former Brazilian president Fernando H Cardoso; former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark; Bineta Diop, African Union Special Envoy for Women Peace and Security; and Andrew Forrest, Founder of the Walk Free Foundation.
Others are Helene Gayle, President and CEO of CARE USA; Mort Halperin, Senior Advisor to the Open Society Institute and the Open Society Policy Center; Arianna Huffington, Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post Media Group; Abdoulie Janneh, Former Executive-Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa; Guilherme Leal, co-Founder of Natura; Graça Machel, widow of former South African president Nelson Mandela and of Mozambican president Samora Machel; and Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever.
The letter was emailed to Daily Trust by Portland Communications, who said it was coordinated by The B Team, Femmes Africa Solidarité, Mo Ibrahim Foundation, UN Foundation and Walk Free Foundation.