Our Schools Fortified, Secured – Nasarawa Govt

The Nasarawa State Government said it had  fortified its educational institutions in a bid to forestall any invasion and attack by assailants.

It said the fortification followed a spate of attacks targeting students and pupils by terrorists in some states.

The Commissioner for Security and Sundry Matters, Usman Baba, disclosed this during a ministerial briefing organised by the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism, to showcase government achievements on Monday in Lafia.

The commissioner said the state government acted swiftly in the wave of abduction of students in Kebbi and Niger schools in collaboration with heads of security agencies to secure institutions located at flash points.

He said even when Governor Abdullahi Sule was away on an official engagement in South Africa as of the time of the attacks in the two states, he ensured that measures were taken to protect students and pupils.

“And after the governor cut short his stay and returned to the state, he ordered an expanded security meeting where further measures were taken not only to fortify schools but prevent possible influx by criminal elements into the state to cause mayhem.”

“That is why we did not rush to close down schools like other state governments did following the abduction in Kebbi and Niger states,” he explained.

He said the administration is working with the security agencies and vigilantes, as well as neighbourhood watch, to tackle pockets of kidnapping in Lafia, Karu and other major towns in the state.

On whether the government is ready for state police, the commissioner said with the type of assistance and support the administration has been rendering to the various security agencies since inception, the state can conveniently fund its own police whenever the federal government okays same.

Also speaking, Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr. Ibrahim Tanko, urged the public to support the fight against criminality because everybody is affected in one way or the other by it.

He said the state government has been able to make the state safe through proactive intervention and collaboration with security agencies.

Dr Tanko noted that the enabling environment put in place by Governor Sule is responsible for the volume of investments the state has been experiencing.