· 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.
FACT CHECK: NIN policy HAS NOT reduced kidnapping, banditry drastically tribuneonlineng.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tribuneonlineng.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Festus Akanbi in Lagos and Laleye Dipo in Minna
The latest mass abduction victims, 136 pupils kidnapped last Sunday from Salihu Tanko Islamiyya School in Tegina, Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, are all children from poor homes, paying paltry N200 monthly as school fees.
The pupils, according to investigations, were deliberately targeted by the bandits in line with their new push for the seizure of the poor and vulnerable, following recent difficulties in abducting from the middle class and wealthy people, who have found better ways of protection.
In a related development, parents of the abducted Tegina pupils yesterday raised the alarm saying the bandits, based on telephone conversation with them last Thursday, are serious about killing their children if they fail to meet N200 million ransom. By yesterday, sympathisers had contributed N11 million towards the payment.
The Streetjournal Magazine is an online investigating media house that specializes on systematic, serious crimes, political corruption or corporate wrongdoing.
Fact Chek: Has NIN-SIM Integration Reduced Kidnapping As Claimed By Pantami? niyitabiti.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from niyitabiti.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.