House of Representatives has stressed the need for the presence of police and other security agents in schools across the country to address the worsening security situation.
This was sequel to the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Hon. Billy Osawaru (APC, Edo) at plenary.
Moving the motion Osawaru expressed worry over the rate of kidnappings and wanton destruction of lives and properties across the schools in the country since 2014 to the extent that children/students are no longer safe even in their schools especially in places like Borno, Nasarawa, Niger, Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna states.
He recalled that in March this year, about 287 schoolchildren were kidnapped from a government-owned school in Kaduna State’s Kuriga town and in September 2023, about 24 students of the Federal University of Gusau in Zamfara State were kidnapped by bandits.
The lawmaker said in Nigeria, police are not guarding most of the schools despite the level of attacks frequently experienced by the schools and the ones in existence are not sufficient in manpower and equipment, hence the level of losses incurred any time such attacks occurred.
Osawaru insisted that if no drastic measure is taken to curb the escalating insecurity situation in the country and in the schools, the entire schools may end up being shut down due to the activities of the miscreants and hoodlums.
He expressed worry that: “Based on a report (Save the Children), more than 1,680 schoolchildren have been kidnapped in Nigeria since the 2014 abduction of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno State and counting. The fear of attacks has stopped many children from ever attending school again.
“In addition to the abductions, over 180 schoolchildren were killed and nearly 90 injured in 70 attacks between April 2014 and December 2022, with an estimated 60 school staff kidnapped and 14 killed. 25 school buildings were reportedly destroyed during that period.
“The majority of these attacks took place in North-West Nigeria (49 attacks), followed by North-Central Nigeria (11 attacks) etc.
Concerned that in Nigeria, the number of out-of-school children, as per the report from UNICEF, was put at 10.5 million – before the effects of the conflict, humanitarian crisis and COVID-19 pandemic were felt.
“One wonders at present what the figure will be due to the effect of these numerous attacks in different schools across the nation. The embarrassing situation has continued to adversely affect the educational sector and the Nigerian economy in several ways, calling for an all-inclusive approach to arrest the situation.”
