The House of Representatives has requested the presence of security in schools across the nation to prevent insecurity in the country.
Presenting the motion, Billy Osawaru decried that students are no longer safe even in their schools, especially, in places like Borno, Nasarawa, Niger, Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna States.
He recalled that on Thursday, 7th of March 2024, about 287 school children were kidnapped from a government school in Kuriga town, Kaduna State.
Osawaeu warned; “If no drastic measure is taken to curb the escalating insecurity situation in the country in the schools, the entire schools may end up being shut down due to the activities of these miscreants and hoodlums.”
“In addition to the abductions, over 180 schoolchildren were killed and nearly 90 injured in 70 attacks between April 2014 and December 2022, with an estimated 60 school staff kidnapped and 14 killed. 25 school buildings were reportedly destroyed during that period.
“The majority of these attacks took place in North-West Nigeria with 49 attacks, followed by North-Central Nigeria with 11 attacks.”
He noted that due to the directive of the President and the relentless efforts of security agencies, the schoolchildren who were victims of the March 2024 attack have long been united with their families.
The lawmaker said that the trauma and shocking experiences they must have been through would forever be in their minds and might likely give them a phobia of going to school again.
He stressed that despite efforts of Nigerian security agencies, the miscreants appear to be reinforced and have perpetuated serious chaos in most schools and have made lives extremely difficult for the majority of the schoolchildren/students and staff who now live under perpetual fear and threat to their lives.