As violent extremism, vicious crimes continue to shrink civil spaces and target vulnerable populations, PRECIOUS IGBONWELUNDU reports that there is need for urgent action to protect children in schools.
Few weeks ago, 43-year-old Kayode Olafisoye and his accomplice, Kayode Akinola, lurked around Mind Builders School, Omole Phase 1, Lagos, from 8am, like vultures, waiting for a vulnerable child to kidnap. Olafisoye, who preyed on a four-year-old kindergarten that alighted his mother’s vehicle as soon as the door was opened around 9am, was apprehended, thanks to the alertness of the school’s guards and the child’s mother.
Olafisoye in whose custody a liquid substance was found proceeded to confess that he was a child kidnapper whose choice location were schools across Lagos. He added that their victims were usually drugged with pills and the liquid substance he claimed was gutter water before being taken to Ibadan, the Oyo State capital for ritual purposes.
Days before the Lagos incident, three siblings-Marvelous, Alex and Rehoboth Sunday- allegedly went missing from their school, Star Heritage Academy, at Kabusa Community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and were fortunately found two weeks later at Wuye, Games Village axis.
Armed groups inflicting pains on pupils, schools
These are not the only risks pupils are exposed to as armed groups have over the years made schools their venue to inflict maximum pain. From the north to the south, thousands of children have been killed, kidnapped or put in harm’s way following invasion of their schools by armed terror groups. A case in point remains the April 14, 2014 kidnap of over 276 school girls of Government Girls College, Chibok, in Borno State, who are still being held captive by members of the Boko Haram Terrorist group. The insurgents also destroyed 20 primary, three junior and two senior secondary schools at Abadam Local Government Area of the state, just as they continued their reign of terror on schools in other parts of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.
The northwestern state of Kaduna has had its share of attacks on schools as it recorded 25 attacks with 1,440 pupils abducted and 16 killed last year, said the United Nations Children and Education Fund (UNICEF) in a report earlier this year.
These attacks included the April 20, gunmen assault on Greenfield University where 20 students and three staff were whisked away, with five of the students killed; invasion and abduction of 39 students of the Federal Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in March, as well as the kidnap of scores of pupils from the Bethel Baptist High School in July.
Not spared was the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) that was invaded by gunmen on August 24 who killed two personnel and kidnapped an officer.
Reports indicate that in March 2021 alone, no fewer than 618 schools were closed in six states-Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Niger, and Yobe- over the fear of attack and abduction of pupils and members of staff, which significantly contributed to loss of learning hours for over two months.
At a time kidnapping for ransom by militants was rife in Lagos, pupils of Babington Macaulay Seminary School in Ikorodu; Turkish International School, Isheri, a border community between Lagos and Ogun, as well as Lagos Model College, Igbonla, Epe, were not spared. Their hitherto serene learning environments were taken over by sounds of heavy shootings by gun totting invaders who dragged some of the children out and held them hostage in forests until ransoms were paid.
In the southeast, students have been subjected to various levels of dangers by members of the secessionist Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) enforcing the Monday sit-at-home order. One of such attacks happened at a school at Nkwume, where students were writing the West African Certificate Examination (WAEC). The gunmen not only disrupted the process, they beat up the pupils and set the school ablaze.
UNICEF Damning statistics
These incidents have no doubt made children scared of going to school and most parents unwilling to have their wards continue schooling in the affected areas thus further increasing the country’s number of out of school children.
Already, UNICEF in its 2021 report said Nigeria has 10.5 million out-of-school children within ages five and 14 years, the highest in the world. It said one in every five out-of-school children in the world was in Nigeria.
“Only 61 percent of 6 – 11 year-olds regularly attend primary school and only 35.6 percent of children aged 36-59 months receive early childhood education.
“In the north of the country, the picture is even bleaker, with a net attendance rate of 53 percent.
Getting out-of-school children back into education poses a massive challenge.
The challenge of getting out-of-school children back
“In north-eastern Nigeria, 2.8 million children are in need of education-in-emergencies support in three conflict-affected States (Borno, Yobe, Adamawa). In these states, at least 802 schools remain closed and 497 classrooms are listed as destroyed, with another 1,392 damaged but repairable,” said UNICEF in the report.
Between 2009 and 2020, reports indicated that terrorists destroyed 1,400 schools, forced more than a million children out of school and killed 2,295 teachers in Borno State.
Similarly, Amnesty International (AI) in a statement to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the Chibok girls kidnap said over 1,500 school children have been kidnapped by armed groups in the country since that incident.
The consequence of failure to protect schools
AI accused Nigeria of failing to protect vulnerable children.
By refusing to respond to alerts of impending attacks on schools across the north of the country, the Nigerian authorities have failed to prevent mass abductions of thousands of school children.
“In all cases, the Nigerian authorities have remained shockingly unwilling to investigate these attacks or to ensure that the perpetrators of these callous crimes face justice.
“Every fresh attack is followed by further abductions that deprive school children of their right to liberty- and leave victims’ families with no hope of accessing justice, truth, or reparations,” AI’s Country Director, Osai Ojigho said in a statement on Thursday.
According to AI, the attacks on schools have triggered a shutdown of many learning institutions with affected regions witnessing a decline in school enrollment and attendance, as well as a rise in child marriage and pregnancies of school-age girls.
Another group, Save the Children International Nigeria, in a statement to celebrate the International Day to Protect Education from Attacks, said more than 1,000 students were abducted from Nigerian schools in 2021 alone, adding that education system in the country was worse than Syria and Yemen with extreme risks.
Tackling the situation
To arrest the situation, Ojigho said the government must comply with the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which it signed.
She said concrete steps must be taken to prevent the abduction of children, ensure that those suspected of criminal responsibility face justice in fair trials and rescue the hundreds of children who remain in captivity.
To UNICEF’s country representative, Peter Hawkins, there was need for children to be safe when in school, adding “no child should be afraid to enter a classroom-afraid their school might be attacked or that they will be kidnapped- and no parent should fear sending their children to school.”
He advocated better funding for education that would enable schools put more efficient safety/security measures in place.
In his submission, a former Director with the Department of State Services (DSS), Denis Amachree, said government must have the political will to ensure all closed schools are opened and striking teachers return to work.
He said: “If we remember that the mantra “Boko Haram” means western education is prohibited, then we will understand why school children are kidnapped, that subsequently leads to the closure of many schools in the north-east and northwestern regions of the country.
“Schools have been advised to follow the “Safe Schools Initiative” to improve their security. Carrying out this initiative has ended up in a quandary. Poor funding could also be the problem.
“If government is ready to improve the security of schools, it can. But again, we will need, a very rare commodity, called “political will” to see that all closed schools are opened and striking teachers are back to work.”
A security expert, Seyi Adetayo argued that it was the responsibility of the state to protect schools and pupils from all armed, vicious crimes by external forces, insisting that the schools’ roles were limited to preventing pupils from leaving before closing time as well as not allowing strangers in.
He said in protecting schools, we should also not militarise them because they would no longer be conducive for learning.
“Moreover, we do not even have the resources to militarise or police schools. Also, children should be able to learn in a safe and peaceful environment and for that to happen, the state should wear its thinking cap.
“We are having these issues because those who are supposed to be in prison are not in prison. There is no disincentive for perpetrators of heinous crimes. Others who have committed such crimes and handed the capital punishment by the courts have not been executed because the governors lack the will power to sign death warrants.
“What signal does that send to the society? It makes crime attractive as people assume no Governor is bold enough to make criminals pay for their crimes. We are experiencing rise on violent/armed crimes which attract the capital punishment today because there is nothing to discourage perpetrators.
“Then, a situation where it is the state that arms criminals for political and economic reasons, children will always be at risk. Most schools are being used as smoking ground for miscreants and the children are usually caught up in this battle.
“At times these same miscreants take the battle for supremacy to inter-housr sports events and they take that opportunity to initiate pupils. These miscreants are being protected by politicians that are in government because they are using them.
“That is why you see them lurking around schools and no one can challenge them. They take that opportunity to kidnap kids for ritual purposes for their political bosses. Studies have shown that cases for kidnapping for ritual usually go up during election period.
“We need to hold government accountable and continue to let them know they cannot continue to shy away from the reality. They have to take responsibility of clearing the society of crime and criminality irrespective of political patronage.
Because nobody hold these people accountable, they feel they can always launch attacks and nothing can happen. It seems as though we have different laws for different sets of people.
A security consultant, Richard Amuwa, while speaking at a seminar organised by Mind Builders Schools, urged parents to be alert as insecurity in the country was becoming alarming.
He warned parents against leaving their children in the vehicles with engines on while on school run without notifying guards at the school premises.
He also asserted that persons who want to commit crime were either acting under the influence of drugs or in a hurry to carry out the act and flee, advising parents to always be vigilant.
Reacting to the incident, Mind Builders Schools in a statement by Education Director, Mrs. Bolajoko Falore, said there were mindful of the security situation across the country and had taken steps to protect their pupils.
It said: “We want to assure all our esteemed parents and the members of the public that we are committed more than ever to the safety of the pupils and students in our care. The incident, is a testimony to the fact that we place a premium on the security of our learners in all the branches of Mind Builders School…
“We understand the insecurity situation of the country and we can not afford these agents of darkness to use any of our schools as a scapegoat; so we are always steps ahead of them.
“Learning can only take place in a secured environment. We therefore use this opportunity to tell all our parents and prospective parents that Mind Builder Schools are safe places to learn.
Police to ensure safer schools
But all hopes are not lost as the police said they have rejigged strategies to ensure safer schools.
Acting Force Police Public Relations Officer (FPPRO), CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi told The Nation that the Inspector-General (IG) Alkali Usman, has ordered the service’s Airwing to deploy copters across the country to give air support for ground troops, adding that they have a mandate to focus on schools and colleges.
He said: “Before now, there was an order to all Commissioners of police to constantly deploy armed and surveillance men to schools and colleges especially boarding schools. The order still subsists.
“In addition, the IGP, Usman Alkali Baba, has recently reiterated the order to strategic commanders to fortify schools in their areas of responsibilities (AoRs) and infrastructural assets.
“The directive was accompanied by the deployment of personnel and sharing of newly acquired anti crime assets, including body armours, ICT based tools, drones etc to commands and formations, in order to provide the required tools for operatives to tackle all sorts of crimes and criminality.
“Then, the updating of our Rescue Me App, on phones wil also assist Nigerians to reach out to the nearest police team whenver in distress, this is technology at play.
“The IGP has also ordered that police Airwing should deploy its choppers to geo political zones to give air support to ground troops who are on various operations across the country. They have a mandate to focus on schools and colleges.”
