In recent months, bandits have initiated a series of attacks and kidnappings in various states, making governance difficult for those in power and heightening the degree of insecurity in the country.
Students of secondary and tertiary levels of education have become the major victims of these acts of banditry.Some of the schools which have witnessed attacks in the past few months include Government Science College, Kagara in Niger; Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara; Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation and Greenfield University, both in Kaduna; and recently, Abia State University.
Only three months ago, the presidency was threatening to crush the bandits behind the attacks and their sponsors, saying they can be defeated by the country’s security outfits but in recent days, that hard stance appears to have softened.