When the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents began their campaign of terror, bombings, killings and mass destruction, one of their primary goals was to stop the teaching of western education in the North-east states. And their emergence came at a wrong time when the region was trying to bridge the wide education gap that existed between it and the South-west.
The posers the group failed to answer are: Is Boko Haram group aware that without western education, they cannot wear clothes or hold and wield theirs guns? If they hate western education as they want us to believe, why do they use radio and other technology devices?
Boko Haram’s destructive conspiracy theory is nothing but outright lies and propaganda which cannot hold water. If there is anything the group wants to achieve it is overseeing the destruction of education of the Northern Nigeria. Evidence abounds in the abduction of Chibok and Dapchi students and the massacredof helpless students in Buni Yadi, Yobe state.
The recent abduction of over 500 students in Kankara, Katsina state, has further raised suspiciouns about the plan of the group to discourage parents from sending their children to school. Although, Nigerians are yet know whether the abduction of Kankara students was carried out by bandits or Boko Haram, whichever group carried out the abduction did so with clear intent to instill fears in the minds of teachers, students and parents.
President Muhammadu Buhari, during an interactive session with the abducted students in Katsina State Government House, encouraged them not to relent in pursuing their studies despite the threat by the bandits.These calming words are apt and came at the right time. However, Mr President and northern governors should go beyond dishing out sympathetic words and come up with robust security strategies aimed at securing our schools and higher institutions of learning.
Most of our schools are porous with little or no presence of security outfits to provide timely response in the case of emergency. Recently, there have been disturbing news on how kidnappers forcefully entered our universities and polytechnics to carry out their nefarious activities.
The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has stated recently that over 5,000 of its members were killed across the country within the period under review by the Boko Haram insurgents and other banditry related violence. The killing of these teachers and destruction of schools have negatively affected the educationally disadvantaged North and the country at large.
Besides, there is the fear being expressed that Boko Haram has penetrated or infiltrated the North-west states. The ransacking of villages, killings and abduction for ransom by suspected bandits are similar tactics adopted by the violent sect. With the abduction of Kankara students, the bandits or Boko Haram have finally turned their face to the North-west. Unless the region wants to experience the destruction of its education as it happened in North-east, it should quickly move and stop the madness being displayed by these so-called bandits.
The future of education in northern Nigeria looks bleak with increasing number of out-of-school children, inadequate manpower and teaching materials and, above all, the activities of bandits which threaten school enrollment. I think it is high time our northern governors and other stakeholders confronted these challenges with all seriousness they deserve.
Ibrahim Mustapha,
Pambegua, Kaduna state
imustapha650@gmail.com; 08169056963