Senator representing Kaduna South Senatorial District, Distinguish Senator Sunday Marshall Katung, has called for a better response to resurgence of mass abductions of people, especially schoolchildren.
Katung said incidents of mass abductions were predictable, hence the need for a quick but strategic and emphatic response to the situation.
The lawmaker made the call in a statement yesterday, reacting to the recent abductions of about 500 persons in Kaduna State, including 287 schoolchildren at Kuriga LEA Primary School.
He expressed fear that if a better response to the security challenges is not adopted, the country will continue to deal with the aftermath of kidnappings, banditry, and criminalities in its communities.
Katung, while describing the abduction of Kuriga schoolchildren as a direct attack on the nation’s educational growth, sympathized with Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, as well as the people and parents of the kidnapped Kuriga students.
He also promised to lobby his colleagues in the upper chamber of the National Assembly for collaboration of any form with Governor Uba Sani, towards tackling the security menace.
According to the senator, “The continued incidents of mass abduction of school children in Nigeria is assuming a normative pattern that is a sad reminder of previous kidnappings that our country has faced.
“It is worrisome, condemnable, and a direct attack on our country’s educational institutions. It portends an existential threat to our educational growth. Schools are supposed to be safe havens for learning for both students and educators and not a place of fear.
“The abduction of 287 school children and some teachers from LEA primary school, Kuriga in Chikun local government area of Kaduna State on 7th March, 2024, and the reported abduction of 87 people from Kajuru station in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Sunday, 17th March, 2024, including other isolated incidents scattered across the states leave a disgusting taste in our mouth.
“While I condemn the renewed spike in mass abductions, especially in my dear Kaduna State, I extend my sincere sympathy to my friend, His Excellency, Governor Uba Sani at these trying moments. I assured the Governor that whatever form of collaboration needed to tackle this menace from my colleagues and I in the Senate would be extended to him
“I also extend my sympathy to the families of the victims and the victims themselves. Together, we will overcome this emerging evil! This deviant and abhorrent act has no place in a decent and civilized environment like ours, and as an existential threat to the development of education, it needs to be dealt with strategically, quickly, and emphatically.
“This can be achieved when we devise a better response to these predictable incidents. And if we don’t, we will continue to deal with the aftermath of these kidnapping, banditry, and criminality unraveling in various forms in our communities,” Katung said.
