Insecurity has continued to be one of the deadly menaces plaguing Nigeria. In recent times, there has been an increase in kidnapping and banditry, posing a grievous threat to national security and economic development. Not only has this adversely affected our national image but it has also eaten deep into every fabric and segment of the nation. Badly affected is Northern Nigeria which has become the epicenter of banditry and kidnapping for ransom.
Most disturbing is the spate of abduction of school children. Mass kidnappings of school girls and boys from schools in the North-east and North-west Nigeria began seven years ago and has become a frequent phenomenon, carried out by rapacious bandits who have turned this menace into money-making ventures.
This form of brazen terrorism has unfortunately not been met with the level of aggression that is needed to address the severity of a recurring crime of this kind. Since 2014, according to several news reports, there have been over a thousand student kidnappings.
These crimes have been targeted at underaged school children who are often made vulnerable by poor security, infrastructure and negligence on the part of the state and federal governments. In recent times, the public has begun to recall the genesis of the spate of school kidnappings in the town of Chibok in Borno state. 276 girls were kidnapped in April 2014 and 112 of them are still missing.
In Kaduna, 31 students went missing after gunmen stormed the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Kaduna state overnight on March 11, 2021. At the time, it was the fourth school abduction in Northern Nigeria since December. Not long after, there were reports of security operatives reportedly foiling an attempt to capture students from a secondary school in the early hours of Sunday, March 15 on the outskirts of Kaduna’s Ikara town.
In an ironic turn of events, gunmen seized three teachers from a primary school in Kaduna state in the same month. One can count series of abduction both reported and unreported in the North. This has shown that the terrorists are becoming bolder day-by-day.
Last week, in another sad and tragic event, the bandits in commando style, invaded Kuriga Primary School, in Chikun local government area and abducted 280 students and their principal. The abduction came barely one week after similar attack was carried out in Borno state by Boko Haram and 400 innocent women kidnapped.
In Katsina and Zamfara states, mass abduction by bandits has become a recurring dismal. These states have been experiencing attacks by bandits, leading to the closure of schools to avert attack. The reason or motive behind abduction for ransom is to discourage acquiring of western education in the North. Whenever bandits carry out nefarious attacks or abduct their helpless victims, government will come out and condemn their actions and promise to stop the carnage.
Alas, one can only hear another round of condemnation from concerned authorities, if these bandits strike again. While government is doing its best to tackle the challenges of school abduction, there is the need to re-strategise security infrastructure and address the dearth of effective protection of lives and property.
The authorities cannot continue to play to the tune of these culprits and reward them with ransoms. State governors and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must step up measures to tackle this notorious attack before it reaches a boiling point. Nigerians must continue to speak against massive abduction until the government becomes responsive. The Nigerian government must wake up to its responsibilities of protecting citizens’ lives and properties and combat this menace because the target on education is a target on the future of Nigeria.
Ibrahim Mustapha,
Pambegua, Kaduna state
08169056963.
