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Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria (CSWN) has warned that the frequent attacks on schools and the kidnap of students will have negative consequences in future, if the Federal Government refuses to arrest the situation.
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The Christian group also viewed the spike in mass kidnappings in communities of vulnerable Nigerians by terrorists as an attack on Nigeria’s future growth.
In a statement in Kaduna, yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer of CSWN, Rev Yunusa Nmadu, explained: “About 10 years ago, in April 2014, Nigeria got a rude awakening to the menace of large school abductions when 276 students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, were herded into the bush. Years later, almost 100 of those girls are yet to return.
“Between that kidnapping and today, we have had other large-scale school abductions across certain northern states that include the 2018 abduction of 110 schoolgirls in Dapchi, Yobe State and the 2020 abduction of about 300 boys from a secondary school in Kankara, Katsina State. Others are the 2021 abduction of 317 schoolgirls of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara State; the 2021 abduction of 39 students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka; the Baptist school abduction of 121 students and the Greenfield University abduction.”
According to Nmadu, the latest was the abduction of 287 school children and some teachers from LEA Primary School, Kuriga in Chikun Local Council of Kaduna State on March 7, 2024, as well as the abduction of 87 people from Kajuru in Kaduna on March 17.
He said: “This local council has recently seen a spike in kidnappings: within a week, about 30 people were kidnapped from different communities, including that of Friday, March 16, when 15 people were kidnapped from Dogon Noma village. Chikun is another local government in Kaduna state that is witnessing an upward surge in kidnapping.
“These serial abductions that are almost normative in frequencies underline both a retrogressive response from duty-bearers and lack of intelligence utilisation. This has placed a heavy burden on the government and security agencies to fashion out better response techniques to these incidents that have not shown signs of abating.”
Nmadu noted that the ratio of security personnel to Nigeria’s over 200 million inhabitants had not helped the situation. He added: “In addition to increasing personnel to meet demands, technology should also be deployed. Effective border control, stiffer penalties and reduction in corruption would go a long way in improving the security situation in the country.”
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‘Attacks on schools will negatively affect Nigeria’s future’
Date: 21 March 2024 3:22am WAT
This photograph taken on February 26, 2021 shows the school dormitory deserted after over 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped by bandits, in Jangede, Zamfara State in northwest Nigeria. - More than 300 schoolgirls were abducted by gunmen in northwest Nigeria on February 26, 2021 in the country's latest mass kidnapping, and a rescue bid was under way, regional police said. A suspected criminal gang attacked the Government Girls Science Secondary School in Jangebe, a village in Zamfara state, around 1 am, police and a local official said. It is Nigeria's third school attack in less than three months -- a series that has revived traumatic memories of the "Chibok girls" kidnapped by jihadists nearly seven years ago. (Photo by Habibu ILIYASU / AFP)
This photograph taken on February 26, 2021 shows the school dormitory deserted after over 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped by bandits, in Jangede, Zamfara State in northwest Nigeria. - More than 300 schoolgirls were abducted by gunmen in northwest Nigeria on February 26, 2021 in the country's latest mass kidnapping, and a rescue bid was under way, regional police said. A suspected criminal gang attacked the Government Girls Science Secondary School in Jangebe, a village in Zamfara state, around 1 am, police and a local official said. It is Nigeria's third school attack in less than three months -- a series that has revived traumatic memories of the "Chibok girls" kidnapped by jihadists nearly seven years ago. (Photo by Habibu ILIYASU / AFP)
