The House of Representatives has warned that schools might be shut down if attacks by terrorists and bandits on schools across the country continue.
The House gave the warning following the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved at the plenary on Wednesday by Hon. Billy Osawaru.
Against this background, the House has called for police/security presence in schools across the nation and to address the worsening security situation in the country.
Presenting the motion, Osawaru lamented the rate of kidnappings and wanton destruction of lives and property across the schools in the country since 2014.
He decried that students are no longer safe even in their schools especially in places like Borno, Nasarawa, Niger, Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna States.
Osawaru recalled that on Thursday, 7th of March 2024, about 287 schoolchildren were kidnapped from a government-owned school in Kaduna State’s Kuriga town.
He said before then, on Friday, 22nd of September 2023, about 24 students of the Federal University of Gusau in Zamfara State were kidnapped by bandits.
The lawmaker added that in Nigeria, policemen 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 losses incurred any time such attacks occurred.
Osawaeu warned; “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 these miscreants and hoodlums.”
He noted that due to the directive of Mr. President and the relentless efforts of our security agencies, the schoolchildren who were victims of the March 2024 attack have long been united with their families, which is very commendable.
He, however, said the trauma and shocking experiences they must have been through would forever be in their minds and might likely give them phobia of going to school again.
Osawaru stressed that despite the efforts of Nigerian security agencies, the miscreants appear to be reinforced and have perpetuated serious chaos in most schools and have made lives extremely difficult for the majority of the schoolchildren/students and staff who now live under perpetual fear and threat to their lives.
He added that based on a report by 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 lawmaker said the fear of attacks has stopped many children from ever attending school again.
Osawaru states: “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.”
Osawaru expressed concern that the embarrassing situation has continued to adversely affect the educational sector and the Nigerian economy in several ways, which made an all-inclusive approach to arrest the situation imperative.
The House, therefore, mandated the House Committees on Army, Airforce, Navy, Police Affairs and Defence to interface with all security Chiefs to identify how best to secure the schools and proffer immediate lasting solutions to the security challenges in the country.It also mandated schools to engage the services of Private Security outfits to complement the efforts of the security agencies in securing the schools.