Mass school abductions, an attack on Nigeria’s future- CSWN

Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria (CSWN) has condemned the continued mass abductions of students in schools across communities, as well as demands for ransom by bandits in many parts of Northern Nigeria.

It stated that the unfortunate and continuously worrisome incidents underline an attack on the future growth and development of Nigeria.

In a press statement made available to journalists in Gombe by its Research and Press Officer, Reuben Buhari, CSWN views the spike in frequent mass kidnappings in both schools and vulnerable communities as capable of wreaking great havoc on the country in the future.

Chronicling the high-profile abductions particularly in Northern Nigeria, the faith-based Non-Governmental Organisation said the serial abductions are almost normative in frequency, underlining both a retrogressive response from duty-bearers and a lack of intelligence utilization.

It said, “About 10 years ago – April 2014 – Nigeria got a rude awakening to the menace of large school abductions when 276 students of Government Secondary School Chibok were herded into the bush.”

It added that, “Years later, almost 100 of those girls are yet to return. In between that kidnapping and today, we have had other large-scale school abductions all across certain northern states, including the 2018 abduction of 110 schoolgirls in Dapchi, Yobe state; the 2020 abduction of about 300 boys from a secondary school in Kankara, Katsina state.”

According to it, “Others are the 2021 abduction of 317 schoolgirls of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara State; the 2021 abduction of 39 students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, the Baptist school abduction of 121 students, the Greenfield University abduction among many others.”

CSWN added that, “The latest was the abduction of 287 school children and some teachers from LEA Primary School, Kuriga in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State on 7th March 2024 and the abduction of 87 people from Kajuru station in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna state on 17th March 2024.”

“This Local Government has recently seen a spike in kidnappings: within a week, about 30 people were kidnapped from different communities, including that of Friday 16th March, where 15 people were kidnapped from Dogon Noma village,” it stressed.

“Chikun is another Local Government in Kaduna state that is witnessing an upward surge in kidnapping,” the organization decried.

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It also said the orgy of abductions has placed a heavy burden on the Government and Security Agencies to fashion out better response techniques to these incidents that haven’t shown signs of abating.

In the statement, the Chief Executive Officer of CSWN, Reverend Yunusa Nmadu, noted that the ratio of security personnel to Nigeria’s approximately 200+ million inhabitants hasn’t helped the situation.

According to him, “In addition to increasing personnel to meet demands, technology should also be deployed, effective border control, stiffer penalties for perpetrators, and reduction in corruption would go a long way in improving the security situation in the country.”