The House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to enhance security around schools across Nigeria to protect students and workers against mass abductions.
At the plenary on Tuesday, the House particularly urged the Federal Ministry of Education to work out appropriate modalities for the provision of basic security and safety measures to protect schools in the country.
The House also mandated the Committees on Basic Education and Services; Tertiary Education and Services; and Legislative Compliance to ensure compliance with the resolution.
These resolutions were sequel to the unanimous adoption of a motion sponsored by Prof Julius Ihonvbere and Mr Benjamin Mzondu, titled, ‘Need to Increase Security Around Schools Across the Country.’
Ihonvbere, while presenting the motion, noted the increasing insecurity in the country, which he said had “become a worrisome development irrespective of one’s class, religion or ethnicity.”
According to him, since December 2020, hundreds of teachers, students and pupils have been abducted from schools across the country, further highlighting a troubling development in the country’s kidnap–for-ransom crisis which has now become a money–making business.
The lawmaker recalled the abduction of nearly 300 students from Government Girls’ Science Secondary School, Jangegbe in Zamfara State on February 26, 2021; and 27 boys and their teachers from a school in Kagara, Niger State, which happened in the space of 10 days.
He said, “The House is cognisant of the need to deploy modern technology in the provision of basic security measures in schools.”
