Following the security situation in the country, students in tertiary institutions have bared the minds on the issue,urging the Federal Government to double its efforts at tackling the scourge of kidnapping and banditry, and ensure the nation is safe for everyone. WONDERFUL ADEGOKE (UDUS) reports.
Over the years, Nigerians have groaned under the weight of rising insecurity. So tense is the situation that hardly does a week pass without news of mass abductions and kidnappings across various states.
The declaration of a nationwide security emergency, mass recruitment of police and army personnel, and approved salary hikes for security agents is only one part of the story in the stonewall attempts to change the tide; the question before us is not whether we can keep pointing fingers, but rather, what approach our government intends to take to absolve itself of the damage caused thus far.
For Ishaq Ibrahim Olamilekan, a 200-Level Civil Engineering student at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), notwithstanding the communiqués issued in recent times to address the complexity of Nigeria’s security challenges, the government needs to double up its efforts.
He said: “Insecurity has become a serious threat to education in many parts of the country. Learning gets disrupted when students and teachers are not in a safe environment. While education has its share of difficulties across the nation, insecurity impedes the process of imparting knowledge and skills to people in order to shape their behaviours and make them productive members of the society.”
The truth, however, is that Olamilekan’s view doesn’t only capture a deepening neglect but also builds a foundation of understanding in different opinions, cultures, and dispositions.
Referencing the recent relocation of staff and students at Kwara State University (KWASU) from its Ilesha Baruba campus in Baruten LGA to the main campus in Malete, for security concerns, Jafar Yahaya, a 400-Level student of Public Administration, shares a disturbing truth. According to Yahaya, the farther students go, the more they find themselves turning with questions.
Of his plans for resumption, he said: “As I speak to you, I don’t even know when to return to school.
“Students lose interest in learning because their attention is not with them, as efforts are turned towards being vigilant enough to defend themselves.”
His fears aren’t unfounded. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics makes travelling a nightmare. Of the 2.2 million Nigerians kidnapped between May 2023 and May 2024, the agency noted, majority were from Northern regions.
Ponting at the injustice of sidelining many from their fundamental right to education, another UDUS student, who prefers to be identified as Aliyu, shares a similar perspective.
He’s reluctant to tag the situation as a failure of leadership. But instead, rates efforts to rejig the country’s security structures as inadequate.
Although majority of these challenges were inherited, Aliyu said, were it not for the political will surrounding accountability, President Tinubu’s administration shouldn’t be exempted from questioning. The results?
“Some tertiary institutions in Kebbi and Sokoto states are shut down, not for academic reasons, but because of the upsurge in kidnapping and banditry. Students in these institutions now sit at home, hopeless, unsure of when their schools will reopen. Many who once craved a better life after graduation now have their hopes on hold.
“For this same reason, many people get discouraged, especially those from the affected states, from pursuing education,” said Aliyu.
What makes the situation more alarming is its ripple effects on the economic condition and the cost of food stuffs. CAMPUS LIFE understands from information obtained from sources that the adverse effects rubs off on their academic performance.
Shaibu Rufai Omale, a 200-Level Pure and Environmental Chemistry Student, bears witness. Omale said: “It leads to food insecurity. In a country that doesn’t import food items, when farmers are unable to return to their farms, how do you expect to ensure food commodities are available?”
This, he said, goes beyond regulating the prices of commodities. “The central concern extends to how lifestyles are stringed to conform to the economic realities, even at the expense of malnutrition,” he said.
Fortunately, all is not lost yet. According to Elom Chioma Favour, a 200-Level Medical Laboratory Science student of Alex Ekueme Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo, Ebonyi State, the onus lies on the government.
Chioma said, shouldn’t the lack of inclusive and equitable learning opportunities be enough to compel the Nigerian Senate to enact the Terrorism Act and other extant laws?
Faulting the budgetary allocations to defence and security, she lamented the gross negligence captured in a 2023 report released by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) on the implementation of just 15 per cent policy recommendations from security conferences anchored by the legislature since 2011.
Speaking further, she said the government could make up for people losing faith in their capacity to protect lives by being accountable.
“The government already knows what to do. They should go after the bandits and provide security officials with adequate weapons,” she added.
Chioma believes it’s time to put an end to the same script: solemn faces, zero results, tough words. According to her, civil military relations should be established to build rapport in local communities for intelligence sharing.
“More importantly, a major way to end not only the corruption ingrained in the security forces but to reduce the possibilities of future incidents of sabotaging within the workforce could be made possible through civic engagement, public awareness, and interstate peace building collaboration,” she said.
