If no drastic measures are taken to curb the escalating insecurity situation in the country and in schools, the entire school system may end up being shut down due to the activities of miscreants and hoodlums.
The House of Representatives has called for the presence of Police and Security agents across Schools of the Federation to avert the abduction of school children which has become a troubling trend in many Nigerian Schools noting that policemen were not guarding most schools despite frequent attacks on Schools across the country.
OrderPaper recalls that on Thursday, 7th of March 2024, about 287 schoolchildren were kidnapped from a government-owned school in Kaduna State’s Kuriga town. Before then, on Friday, 22nd of September 2023, about 24 students of the Federal University of Gusau in Zamfara State were kidnapped by bandits.
Hence, the House resolved that the Committees on Army, Airforce, Navy, Police Affairs and Defence should interface with the security Chiefs to identify how best to secure our schools and proffer immediate lasting solutions to the security challenges in the country as it also mandated schools to engage the services of Private Security outfits to complement the efforts of the security agencies in securing the schools.
The House also called on clerics, Traditional Rulers, the National Orientation Agency and Civil Society Organisations to contribute towards value re-orientation and social re-awakening especially for out-of-school children still living in fear saying if no drastic measure was taken to curb the escalating insecurity situation in the country and in schools, the entire school system may end up being shut down due to the activities of miscreants and hoodlums.
These resolutions were reached following a motion on matters of urgent public importance by Rep. Billy Osawaru (APC, Edo), on the “Need to have Police/Security presence in schools across the Nation and to address the worsening security situation in the country”
According to Osawaru, students are no longer safe even in their schools, especially in places like Borno, Nasarawa, Niger, Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna States as he lamented that the fear of attacks has stopped many children from attending school.
He said “ Based on a report (Save the Children), more than 1,680 schoolchildren have been kidnapped in Nigeria since the 2014 abduction of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno State and counting. The fear of attacks has stopped many children from ever attending school again. In addition to the abductions, over 180 schoolchildren were killed and nearly 90 injured in 70 attacks between April 2014 and December 2022, with an estimated 60 school staff kidnapped and 14 killed. 25 school buildings were reportedly destroyed during that period.
Adding that “despite the efforts of Nigerian security agencies, the miscreants appear to be reinforced and have perpetuated serious chaos in most schools and have made lives extremely difficult for the majority of the schoolchildren/students and staff who now live under perpetual fear and threat to their lives.”
