Invasion displaces 5000 pupils in Nasarawa State

Kogi ex-gov proffers solution to clashes
Over 5000 school pupils have been displaced by herdsmen’s invasion in Nasarawa.

The crisis already resulted in the displacement of some 20,000 other people mainly from the three council areas of Awe, Obi and Keana in the southern senatorial district of the state.

The villages in affected councils, it was gathered, had been deserted, as the indigenes had taken refuge in neighbouring settlements.

During a visit to some of the schools in the three councils, the learning institutions were under lock and key. Not even an employee was in sight.

Some of the children were, however, seen with their parents in IDP camps in Awe, Keana and Kadarko.

The assurances from government notwithstanding, the over 19 state-owned schools in the rural communities have remained empty.

Reliving their ordeal, two parents, Mr. Teve and Mrs. Theresa told our reporter the trauma they had gone through in the hands of the invaders all this while.

Teve said: “I had to take with me my four children into the bush and walked for more than 10 kilometers before we got to Awe town.”

On her part, Theresa said that her family left everything except the clothes they were putting on the fateful day.

“I don’t know what has happened to our farm produce and the domestic animals we left,” she added.

In the meantime, former governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada, has advised government to buy into pilot project he carried out while in office as a panacea to the menace.

Done in partnership with missionaries from Emiworo in Ajaokuta Local Council, the project involved establishing a school by the missionaries while his administration provided electricity and borehole and a plot of land that was divided into five segments.