Atiku renews call for declaration of emergency in Nigeria’s education sector over students’ abductions

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Monday urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the education sector over the increasing cases of students’ abductions by armed bandits in the country.

Atiku’s call was a reaction to Monday’s abduction of an unspecified number of students and teachers at the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Primary School at Rama in Birnin-Gwari local government area of Kaduna State.

The incident occurred just three days after gunmen suspected to be bandits abducted some students and staff of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Mando, Kaduna.

The ex-Vice President had in December last year implored the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the education sector following the abduction of over 100 boys at a college in Katsina.

READ ALSO: Empower states to control their security, Atiku reacts to abduction of #Jangebegirls

Atiku, who reacted to the latest abduction of students via his Twitter handle, urged the federal government to post armed guards at every school in the affected and neighbouring states.

He wrote: “With the latest Kaduna school abduction, I repeat my call for the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the education sector and to post 24-hour armed guards at every school in the affected and neighbouring states. No expense must be spared to keep our schools safe.

“With 13.5 million children, Nigeria is already the world headquarters for out of school kids. This can only make things worse. It behoves on us as a nation to act decisively and excise this cancer of school abductions from our polity with clinically precise policies.

“We must also stop paying ransom at random. It is a short-term solution that will cause much long-term destruction. We must, as a nation, impose law and order now, or we will bequeath lawlessness and disorder to the next generation. And may God forbid that.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now