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· Demands audit of $30m Safe School Initiative
Gboyega Akinsanmi
No fewer than 939 students have been kidnapped from different secondary schools and tertiary institutions across the federation between December 2020 and May 2021, a new survey that tracks kidnapping incidents in schools has revealed.
With the rising incidents of students’ abduction, Global Rights, a Washington-based human rights organisation, asked the federal government to audit the Safe School Initiative, a $30 million project initiated under the Goodluck Jonathan administration to protect schools nationwide.
The organisation yesterday released the report of its study to THISDAY, graphically showing the trajectory of mass abduction that occurred in secondary schools and tertiary institutions from December 2020 and May 2021.
By
Mon Feb 22 2021
The frequency and ease with which bandits stage attacks in north-west and north-central Nigeria have devastatingly become excruciating.
In spite of several air raids and special operations by the military and the police, banditry and kidnapping have remained intractable threats to lives and property in parts of the country.
The failure by government to effectively deal with the surge of insecurity has helped to sustain abduction for ransom; making boarding schools soft targets for criminal elements.
Last week Wednesday, a total of 42 people, including 27 students, three teachers and their family members were abducted by armed bandits from Government Science College (GSC), Kagara, Niger State.
The recent abduction of 344 students of the Government Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State from their school hostels is the single most audacious mass kidnapping since the crime became rife in Nigeria.
The Kankara abductions drew the attention of the global community almost in the way that the 2014 abductions of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok by Boko Haram did.
While the Kankara boys have been released after six days in captivity, over a hundred of the Chibok girls remain unaccounted for.
Other mass abductions of students in the country included the Dapchi abductions of February 19, 2018, where jihadi group, Boko Haram, stormed a school in Borno and kidnapped 110 students.
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DELE OGUNYEMI writes that the abduction of two female schoolteachers in the Ohorhe community, Delta State, and their freedom after 10 days in the kidnappers’ den highlight the need for better security arrangement in the state, especially in the rural areas
“God’s mercy kept us in the kidnappers’ den for 10 days and we came out safe and unharmed. We were not beaten, chained or raped. Rather, we were shown love and compassion in the thick forest. One of them told us that he saw mercy written on our foreheads; that we are women of grace.
“They begged us for forgiveness and even gave us money when we were released. The God of Daniel was with us. We serve a God who is too faithful to fail. Thank you all for your prayers and concern. We are indeed grateful to God as He answered our prayers. We love you all.”