By Sulyman Pakoyi
Nigeria has witnessed a surge in the abduction of schoolchildren over the past month, deepening fears about the country’s vulnerable education system. In Niger State, more than 300 students and 12 teachers of Saint Mary’s Secondary School were kidnapped by armed bandits.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said 50 pupils had been reunited with their families after they escaped, while the rest remained in captivity. The incident is considered one of the worst school abductions in the nation’s history.
Similarly, 25 female students were abducted in Kebbi State but were later released through non-kinetic negotiation, as PRNigeria reported.
In response, the Federal Government ordered the closure of 47 unity schools across the country and urged state governments to reconsider establishing boarding schools in remote areas without adequate security. Some states, such as Kebbi, Niger, Yobe, and Plateau, have abruptly shut down public schools indefinitely, while Kwara state has relocated tertiary students and the NYSC orientation camp from conflict-prone areas to the state capital.
These coordinated attacks are not new. Since the Chibok abduction by Boko Haram in 2014, Nigeria has continued to battle school-targeted kidnappings. According to reports, the country has recorded 2,946 student abductions in 92 schools since the Chibok incident. These attacks have led to an increase in the number of out-of-school children, particularly in the northern part of Nigeria. Nigeria currently accounts for 10.5 million out-of-school children, with adult literacy hovering at around 62 per cent.
The abrupt shutdown of schools, particularly in the north, has been considered “a panic measure,” an indication that the state is under siege.
“What we are witnessing right now in the northern part of Nigeria is an assault on childhood and an utter failure to guarantee the safety and security of school children and teachers. It is not only school children that are unsafe. Hundreds of towns and villages have for many years endured frequent attacks by gunmen,” said Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.
Nigeria, over the years, has battled extremist ideologies forbidding students from attending Western education. A former attorney general of a state, article expressed that these panic measures are a clear victory for Boko Haram and ISWAP, whose core objectives are to prevent children from attending schools.
“One after the other, the states of North will announce and formalize what quietly been happening. ‘Non-Islamic education is forbidden’ and schools in Northern Nigeria have started shutting down. Isn’t this circular the very picture of confusion and lack of coordination, a massive strategic victory for BH (Boko Haram)?” he said.
According to Human Rights Watch, Nigerian authorities have failed to apply lessons from previous attacks to create early warning systems and other measures that could prevent these atrocities.
For instance, the Safe School Initiative (SSI), launched after the Chibok school attack in 2014 to prevent attacks on schools, has failed to achieve its objectives, despite the 30 million dollars committed to the project.
The Nigerian Senate has ordered a full-scale investigation into the implementation of the government’s Safe School Fund, as the initiative has failed to prevent recurring attacks on schools across the country.
In an exclusive report, PremiumTimes noted that over 60 schools in rural communities in Zamfara state, a state with the highest out-of-school children are currently closed due to fears of terror attacks.
The escalated kidnapping in Zamfara has influenced the shutdown of schools and a significant decline in enrollment of students, contributing to a bleak future for the young population in the state.
As insecurity continues to impede Nigeria’s education sector, the country must strengthen security measures in rural communities, bolster inter-agency coordination, and engage communities to ensure safety for school children. Experts have noted that over-reliance on security agencies in schools without building community-based protections or early warning systems remains a major problem.
Borno State provides a template on how to ensure the security of students. The state, which is the epicentre of insurgency and where mass school abductions started, managed a 70% fulfilment rate of the Safe School Standards, the highest in the country. The state engages community vigilantes who work closely with other security agencies to secure schools, while ensuring proper fencing is in place in schools across the state. This approach satisfies the basic requirements for the Safe School Initiative programme.
As a proactive measure, Nigeria can deploy high-tech drone surveillance to provide a forensic assessment of prone areas, ensuring coordination and aiding rescues, while also engaging teachers and students in basic drill exercises. Enugu state has demonstrated that states can afford to buy security drones to provide air surveillance to protect the lives and property of the people.
Through the Enugu State Security Trust Fund (ESSTF), the state purchased security drones and digital surveillance gadgets as part of a strategy to strengthen the state’s security architecture and ensure safer lives and property across both urban and rural communities.
Nigeria can also ensure the swift passage of a bill seeking the death penalty for kidnappers, financiers, and informants of these heinous crimes, providing an opportunity for justice and deterrence. This also resonates with the Human Rights Watch appeal to the Nigerian government to bring those responsible for mass school abductions to justice and to protect the right of children to go to school without fear.