The House of Representatives has expressed worry over the incessant kidnappings and wanton destruction of lives and properties across schools in the country since 2014 to date.
The House in its resolution mandated the House Committees on Army, Airforce, Navy, Police Affairs and Defence to interface with all security chiefs to identify how best to secure schools and proffer immediate lasting solutions to the security challenges in the country.
The House also mandated schools to engage the services of private security outfits to complement the efforts of the security agencies in securing the schools.
The resolutions were sequel to the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance moved by Mr Billy Osawaru during plenary in Abuja.
According to Osawaru, students are no longer safe even in their schools, especially in places like Borno, Nasarawa, Niger, Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna States.
He explained that most recently, on Thursday, 7th of March 2024, about 287 schoolchildren were kidnapped from a government-owned school in Kaduna State’s Kuriga town.
He said before then, on Friday, 22nd of September 2023, about 24 students of the Federal University of Gusau in Zamfara State were kidnapped by bandits.
The lawmaker also noted that in Nigeria, policemen are not guarding most of the schools despite the level of attacks frequently experienced by the schools. He said that the ones in existence are not sufficient in manpower and equipment, hence the level of losses incurred whenever such attacks occur.
He said “If no drastic measure is taken to curb the escalating insecurity situation in the country and in the schools, the entire schools may end up being shut down due to the activities of these miscreants and hoodlums.
“The Government owes the people the responsibility of providing for their welfare and security, so it is incumbent on the government to fulfil its obligation to the people in this regard.”
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The lawmaker further explained that due to the directive of the President and the relentless efforts of security agencies, schoolchildren who were victims of the March 2024 attack have long been reunited with their families. However, he noted that the trauma and experiences they went through will forever be in their minds and they may likely develop the phobia of going to school again.
“Despite the efforts of the Nigerian security agencies, the miscreants appear to be reinforced and have perpetuated serious chaos in most schools. They 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.
“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.
“The majority of these attacks took place in North-West Nigeria (49 attacks), followed by North-Central Nigeria (11 attacks) etc. Concerned that in Nigeria, the number of out-of-school children, as per the report from UNICEF, was put at 10.5 million – before the effects of the conflict, humanitarian crisis and COVID-19 pandemic were felt.
“One wonders at present what the figure will be due to the effect of these numerous attacks in different schools across the nation. Disturbed that the embarrassing situation has continued to adversely affect the educational sector and the Nigerian economy in several ways, calling for an all-inclusive approach to arrest the situation.
The House to this end also called on Nigerian clerics, Traditional Rulers, National Orientation Agency and Civil Society Organisations to contribute towards value re-orientation and social re-awakening especially the out-of-school children still living in fear.
Emmanuel Ukoh
