Insecurity: Shielding schools from becoming terrorist soft targets

Knocks on the Federal Government over the posture of handling security matters in the Country has become rife most recently. Critical positions have assumed whipping notations against the Presidency led Federal Government in the sight of worsening profile of security threats which have continued to project a situation of disorder across the Country. Frontline rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) while taking a berating position against the Federal Government had on Sunday faulted the approach to tackling insecurity in the Country in the past few years. In a press conference in Abuja, the Executive Director of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, had in whipping notation mentioned that the  government, particularly the executive arm, has not demonstrated sufficient political will to tame the monster of corruption with its network to the troubling insecurity in the Country. He had said: “The issue of insecurity in Nigeria is made worse by the unprecedented level of corruption amongst the members of this government. There are reports that most of them prior to the year 2015 before the coming of the government, were as wretched as Church rats. But few years down the line, there are reports that many of them have built immeasurable wealth and got huge assets to the amazement of some of the political thugs who were used to manipulate the electoral process and rig in the administration. It is said that some of these thugs who felt short changed by those who they helped to gain political power have abandoned them and are now amassing massive wealth whereas they who helped to perpetrate electoral fraud are dying in penury and absolute poverty. And so those amongst the armed thugs who cannot bear the disappointments with equanimity, then opted for violence and criminality which is the result of what we are witnessing today. The EFCC is simply chasing shadows by asking bankers to declare their assets when this same EFCC failed to pin down the sponsors of terrorism and the kidnappers who keep huge ransom in the same banks that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN controls. So the EFCC needs to go after these people most of who were even too poor to drive one good car and lived in rented houses with some reportedly selling recharge cards before political fortune smiled on them.”

While rolling of scathing criticisms continue to wave from various angles, it is evident that the concern of the threats against various arms of human endeavour is conspicuous. One of the institutions of human society which is recently facing the threats of disturbances by insecurity menace is education. The targets of schools by bandit and terrorist groups most recently have become so rife. The movement of terrorists turning to attacking schools to kidnap pupils has grown from what was experienced in the kidnap of the Chibok girls in Borno in 2014, to a troubling phenomenon by spates of attacks on schools to abduct students in their numbers. The rescue of some of the students after their abduction by the government, has been argued not to have been effected without payment of ransom. However, the experience of holding some children back in hostage and the loss of some others in the course of the attacks, constitute some arrows of panic sending fear down the spine of many parents, particularly in the Northern parts of the Country where this kidnap saga is now rife. The threats that such escapades portend against the Country cannot be underestimated, considering how the depth of illiteracy in the north has been recorded to have contributed largely to the preponderance of poverty and insecurity in itself. It has been argued that most illiterate and uneducated persons have been soft spots for recruitment into bandit and terrorist groups.

However, the poor response of security architecture to proffer safe haven to schools in threat zones of banditry and terrorism in the North has been a subject of concern. It has been argued that the fact that the political class have none of their children/wards enrolled in these schools, informs why the response to the threats against these schools have been attracting poor political will to muster the right force to keep the schools safe.

HURIC in its argument had noted the fact that most Ministers today do not have their children in public schools is the reason they won’t be worried with the increasing incidences of kidnapping in schools. Citing various portions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to justify the right to education, HURIWA had warned of the danger to come in the foreseeable future if the right to learning of the child is infringed upon or outrightly denied.

It was noted: “Children’s right to education in northern Nigeria has been severely restricted or, in many cases, completely eradicated because of the frequent attacks, constant insecurity and direct attacks on schools, education personnel and pupils by suspected armed Fulani militants or bandits. The unlawful killing of teachers or pupils by non-state actors is both a serious crime and an abuse of their right to life as well as a broader attack against education in northern Nigeria. As part of its obligations to protect the right to life and the right to education, the Nigerian government should bring perpetrators of such criminal acts to justice in a fair trial without recourse to the death penalty.”

In a similar vein, the conglomeration of Churches in Northern Nigeria under the aegis of TEKAN/ECWA had in response to the spate of attacks on schools called on the Federal Government to tackle the menace of school abduction in Northern Nigeria with seriousness, stressing that proactive measures must be taken to avert further closure of schools.  The Taraba state Chairman of TEKAN/ECWA, Rev. Philip Dopah who spoke on Sunday at the 1st quarter combine service of the Churches, had urged the Federal Government to beef up security around schools, stating with declarative tune that: “the issue of security must not be politicized. Abduction of school children in the North must be stopped.”

It is essential for the Government to consider the impact that the discouragement of more people in the North from attending schools for fear of insecurity would further bear on the profile of illiteracy in the region. The prevailing record of illiteracy and the associated strings of poverty which have opened the room for banditry and terrorism to thrive, is one thought of reason that demands the attention of the Government. While the records of ravaging attacks of bandits and terrorists continue to rock the various sections of the Country, it is imperative for the Government to shield the institutions of education from being a soft target for bandits and terrorists to capitalize upon as their spots of operation as experienced most recently. Holding the spate of attacks against schools with loose hands will do the Country no good than to further deter more children from the four walls of classroom, thereby increasing the level of illiteracy and thus strengthening the blocks of possible recruitments into bandit and terrorist groups. Demand is therefore placed before the Government to provide virile security architecture to make schools in trouble zones of banditry and terrorism a safe haven to encourage deterred pupils by assurance that gives confidence of their safety within their learning environment and along their routes home.