Banditry Has Destroyed Education In North, But Better Under Tinubu – Shehu Sani

A former senator representing Kaduna State, Shehu Sani, has said the security situation in the North is now better than it was under former president Muhammad Buhari, positing that the situation is getting better.

He stated this at the 40th anniversary and reunion of ‘84’ set of Kagara Old Boys Association, an association of old students of Government Science College, Kagara,  held at Ahmadu Bahago Secondary School, Minna, Niger State yesterday.

Senator Sani said; “The security challenges will be over in the whole country because what we have now is better than what we had during the Buhari administration. There is every evidence that many of the top terrorists have been eliminated by our security forces. And if you compare what we are having today to what we had yesterday, it is still  better.”

He recalled that under the Buhari administration there were several  attacks on schools including attacks on Green Field University, Kaduna; Bethel Baptist School, Kaduna; Government Science College, Kagara-his alma mater; Federal Government Girls’ College, Yauri; Federal School of Agricultural Mechanisation, Mando; Government Secondary school, Kankara and Government Secondary school, Jangibe.

While saying Nigerians should be hopeful that things would get better, he supported the temporary relocation of Government Science College, Kagara, as suggested by the Niger State government.

Sani said the school should be moved back to Kagara as soon as the security situation in the area improves, adding; “It is unfortunate that the schools that produced some of the best hands in the history of this country are today the ruins of what they used to be.

“We must tell ourselves the fundamental truth that as long as we don’t provide education for our own young ones, we would be creating a force that we would not be able to contain in future. Northern Nigeria must take education seriously; we lag behind in education; we have the highest number of out of school children today. The activities of bandits and terrorists have destroyed the educational fabric and basis of northern Nigeria.

“The school we used to call our own has been deserted because bandits once attacked it and took  students and some teachers hostage.”

Chairman of the association, Ja’afar Tukur,  represented by the treasurer of the ‘84’ set of the association, Dr. Philip Audu Ibrahim, said the old students were not happy with the deplorable state of the college, and therefore urged the federal and state governments to work to end banditry for schools to reopen.

“No sane person will be happy with the current state of Government Science College, Kagara. It’s an issue of insurgency. You know that Kagara forms boundary between Kaduna and Katsina and it is the route through which bandits come into Niger State. And we are not happy with the condition of that school. For the past 10 years, we have been responsible for infrastructure in the school; a group of old boys, but what is happening in Kagara today is beyond us as old students,” he said.

The college was closed  and converted to a military camp since 2021 as a result of the abduction of scores of students and staff.