As one of the Northwestern states grappling with the challenges of banditry and kidnapping, Kaduna State has had several horrid experiences in terms of attacks on schools; from Engravers College to Good Shepherd Seminary, Forestry College to UBE Primary School, Rama, Greenfield University to Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic, Bethel Baptist School to Local Education Authority (LEA) Kuriga. Subsequent to this, the state now mulls merger of 359 schools in banditry-prone areas, which stakeholders regard as a litmus test, ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE reports.
The bandits’ attacks on schools across the landscape of Kaduna forced many parents to remove their children from such schools. The attacks also impoverished victims’ families, as citizens were robbed of millions of naira as ransoms. Many were maimed and others were sent to early graves.
The most recent of such mass abductions were the attacks on LEA Primary School and GSS Kuriga in Chikun Local Government Area of the state, where 137 pupils were kidnapped in broad daylight along a teacher. The teacher died in captivity due to torture by the bandits, before the school children were rescued 16 days later in distant Zamfara State.
The negative impacts of kidnappings
Aside the negative impacts suffered by the victims’ families, bandits’ attacks on schools, according to the government, Kaduna has recorded dramatic drop in school enrolments from 2,111,969 in 2021/2022 to 1,734,704 in 2022/2023 academic session.
The Governor Uba Sani-led administration, though is keying into the Federal Government’s Safe School Initiative through fencing of schools, establishment of Security and Safety Response Committees, Deployment of Kaduna Vigilance Service (KADVS) to schools among others, it is adopting merger of schools in high-risk communities as immediate solution.
The school merger project, according to stakeholders, will come with its own challenge, which may include transportation and even security of the pupils while going to and from their new schools. But, the state government said it is planning to manage new challenges that may come from the new plan for its success.
Police Schools’ Protection Squad to the rescue?
Governor Sani, last week as top hierarchy of the Police Force and other stakeholders converged on Kaduna to launch the Police Force Schools Protection Squad, lamented that banditry and terrorism have disrupted socio-economic activities in the affected communities and they are currently threatening the state’s educational revitalisation programme.
Assistant Inspector General (AIG) in charge of Zone 14, Katsina, Yahaya Abubakar, at the event, traced the history of school attack in Nigeria back to 2014, when the Boko Haram terrorist group in the Northeastern part of the country stormed Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State and abducted over 250 schoolgirls.
“The name of the group literally translates to ‘Modern Education is forbidden’. To buttress this strange ideology, the group consistently attacked schools, students, teachers and security agencies that protect them, resulting in the destructions and closure of hundreds of schools in the ‘BAY states’ of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.”
Justifying the need for the Police Force School Protection Squad across Nigeria, the AIG argued that the phenomenon of attacks on schools by armed groups and non-state actors is not limited to the North-East alone, as North-West and North-Central parts of the country have also witnessed a number of violent attacks on schools by armed bandits.
“For instance, on November 11, 2020, Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State was attacked by bandits, and over 300 students were abducted. Similar incidents also occurred in Kagara (Niger State) on February 17, 2021 and in Jengebe (Zamfara State) on February 26, 2021. Most recently here in Kaduna State, another incident of abduction occurred at the Government Secondary School Kuriga on March 7, 2024, among others.
“These incidents of violent attacks on schools made it imperative for the adoption and implementation of the Safe School Declaration (SSD) and the Safe School Initiative (SSI) in Nigeria, as part of the Global commitments to protect students, teachers and learning environments, and ensure unfettered access to education in all countries.
“As the principal law enforcement organ and the lead agency in crime control and public safety in the country, the core duties and responsibilities of the Police Force under the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools (NPSSVFS) 2021, includes placement of the highest priority in the protection of students and teachers during attacks on schools and other higher institutions of learning.
“We are also to ensure immediate response to distress calls for help and protection during attack on any school or when such an attack is imminent; to establish and assign a Rapid Response Unit that will co-locate with schools and local education officials during emergencies; and to develop comprehensive operational guidelines and procedures for protection of students, teachers and educational infrastructure,” he said.
AIG Abubakar disclosed that the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, had inaugurated the School Protection Squad, the Standard Operating Manual for School Protection Squads, operational equipment, patrol vehicles and other platforms for schools safety.
The National Coordinator on Safe School Programme, Federal Ministry of Finance, Hajia Halima Iliya, said the Federal Government was worried by closure of schools in high-risk areas and the attendant increase in the number of out-of-school children. Hence, the creation of Safe School Initiative (SSI), to enable children affected by conflict and insecurity to continue with their education unhindered. However, Sani said in his own way to ensure unhindered education for the children in the state, his administration has commenced the merging of 359 schools in conflict-prone and terrorists infested areas with those in safe locations.
The governor commended the Federal Government for launching the N144.8 billion Safe Schools Financing Plan in 2022.
Governor Sani advocated for regular meetings of security forces with elders, religious leaders, representatives of youth and women groups.
“Consultative Committees on Security should be formed in communities, with membership drawn from security forces and key stakeholders. They can play a key role in gathering intelligence, mobilising the citizens on security and development issues, as well as nipping potential crisis in the bud.”
Concerns over merger
Meanwhile, a Public Affairs Analyst, Alhaji Tajudeen Tijjani, said that the merger of a large number schools like the one planned by the state government will be difficult to maintain.
He, however, suggested that recruitment of local youths into the state Kaduna State Vigilance Service (KADVS) will work better in the security and protection of the schools in the bandits’-prone areas.
According to him, “The state government may find it difficult to maintain such large number of schools, at the initial stage, due to the number of pupils that are going to be affected.
“It will make meaning, if the government recruits people from affected areas into the state security outfit, the KADVS and make sure they are trained and adequately remunerated. These local security personnel can be mixed by the other security, such as the Army and the Police.
“Government will also build barracks and stations in the affected areas. The security of those pupils is in the hands of those nearer to them and living in the environment.”
Also lending his voice on the matter, a civil society expert and girl education advocate, Mr. Alex Uangbaoje, described the merger plan as admittance of government failure to address insecurity around schools and communities.
Uangbaoje said: “First and foremost, is there any part of the state where schools are safe? We only call some areas safe because they have not experienced attack. The merger idea just shows that the government has lost ideas on how to tackle insecurity in the state.
“The question is: If you relocate the students, are you also going to relocate their parents? Or is the government going to take full responsibility for these students? Are there boarding houses in those areas they would be moved to? Is the governor now trying to say all the schools in Bini Gwari, for instance, will be relocated to another area? Because the last time I checked, I am not sure of anywhere in that LGA that has been declared secured.
“The only solution in my view, will be to wipe out insecurity, otherwise the bandits will always look for a way to make a statement when they want to”, he said.
Commissioner: Security measures will go along with merger
Giving further insight into the school merger programme, Commissioner for Education, Prof. Muhammad Sani Bello, said the school that have been identified for merger are within walking distance to the new school. Prof. Bello told The Nation that the idea of the merger is to allow security efforts to be concentrated in every selected cluster area, adding that such will ensured a well-secured school environment.
He stressed further that security measures like fencing and construction of watch towers were being put in place in the chosen areas.
