Former Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has raised the alarm over the rise of out-of-school children in the future, should the attacks on students persist in the country. In a series of posts shared via his X handle, Obi berated the recurrence of student attacks, calling for more concerted efforts to combat the continuing menace of nationwide insecurity....CONTINUE READING
No fewer than 287 students and pupils were abducted on Thursday, from a Government Secondary School (GSS) in Kuriga village of Chikun Local Government, Kaduna State.
Obi, while reacting to the incident, demanded that “every effort should be directed towards the safe release of the children.”
He called on the federal government to implement better security measures to avoid future occurrences.
“While insecurity has continued to bear down on every sector of our national existence, its negative impact on education will be more devastating for the nation.
“I once again appeal to the government, both state and federal, to explore all possible means to ensure the safe release of the abducted school children and their teachers,” Obi said.
In the same vein, a former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar described the insecurity situation in the country as worsening, and one that leaves the media awash with terrifying news.
Abubakar opined that such reports are likely to rank the country as “one of the most terrorised territories on earth.”
The former 2023 presidential candidate further described the cases as “endless” and “interminable.”
He added, “The APC-controlled government has failed woefully to give the people the basic things expected of a responsive government.
“It is a clear manifestation of the failure of governance. The government has continued to play the ostrich while the nation is plagued by insecurity.
“The government has continued to play the ostrich while the nation is plagued by insecurity.
While the weak and vulnerable are neglected, the government is making empty rhetoric about reforms.
“And while our young men are abducted, killed, or conscripted into the army of the terrorists and our women and girls are ravished and subjected to different forms of gender-based violence, the authorities do nothing.
“This is in negation of the constitutionally guaranteed commitment that the security and welfare of citizens is the primary responsibility of the government.”
Meanwhile, a United Kingdom (UK) Based Security and Risk Management Film, Peccavi Consulting has asked the security agencies in Nigeria to focus on four key areas to prevent the recurrence of mass kidnappings of students.
The firm in a series of posts on X, named the key areas to include the target, bandit camp, hostage holding area, and ransom exchange point.
According to the firm, these factors should be taken into consideration during the invention of strategies to create a safe environment for learning across the country.
The firm noted that in such instance as Kiruga’s, the assailants target schools, located in isolated areas with low-security presence.
It asked the security agencies to identify potential bandit camps where criminals are likely to find hidden and inaccessible by vehicles or trucks to rest, train and keep weapons.
It said, “The same applies to where the hostages are kept, the major difference being that the camp doesn’t necessarily need to be guarded 24/7 while the hostages do.
“Ransom exchange point: this needs to be a point with similar characteristics to the camp & close enough to the camp for the bandits to get there easily as well as the ransom payer, it needs multiple exits to prevent an ambush, be isolated but also observable.”
The firm, therefore, asked the nation’s security agencies to utilise a combination of map/satellite photo/town planning data study to identify likely targets including schools, hospitals, trains, airports, motorparks and apartments.
“A similar exercise should identify areas that are conducive to serving as bandit camps. All of which should be validated with local knowledge, in order to prevent & deter,” Peccavi Consulting said.
