Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), says the federal government has neglected education and allowed insecurity to threaten the future of Nigerian children.
The former vice-president was reacting to Tuesday’s attack
on Government Secondary School (GSS) Olowa in Dekina LGA of Kogi state, where
gunmen abducted the principal, a National Examination Council (NECO) ad hoc
staff member and students during the ongoing NECO examinations.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by Phrank Shaibu, his
senior special assistant on public communication, Atiku described the incident
as “further proof that the Nigerian state has abdicated its most fundamental
responsibility, which is: the protection of life, learning and the future of
its children.”
He said the attack reflects a growing pattern of educational
institutions becoming easy targets because criminals no longer fear the
Nigerian state.
Describing the incident as “tragic and disgraceful”, Atiku
said children in Nigeria can no longer sit public examinations without fear of
abduction.
“An examination hall should be a sanctuary of hope, not a
crime scene. A school principal should be preparing students for the future,
not negotiating with kidnappers,” Atiku said.
“A NECO official should be supervising examinations, not
struggling for survival in the hands of bandits. Yet this has become the grim
reality under a government that has normalised insecurity.
“It is impossible to separate this attack from the attitude
this administration has displayed towards education.
“A government that has repeatedly made education more
expensive through unprecedented increases in WAEC and NECO examination fees,
neglected public schools, failed to secure learning environments and reduced
education to empty campaign slogans should not be surprised that criminals now
see schools as abandoned territories.”
The ADC presidential candidate said government policies have
made education less affordable and failed to protect students, creating what he
described as a “double assault” on Nigeria’s future.
He added that repeated attacks on schools have emboldened
criminal groups because the government’s response has been largely reactive.
“The bandits have become emboldened because they have
watched a government that shows greater urgency for political campaigns than
for protecting schools,” he said.
“They have seen a government that mobilises enormous state
resources when politics is involved but struggles to provide effective security
around educational institutions.
“Every successful kidnapping convinces another criminal gang
that Nigerian schoolchildren are easy targets.”
He said the attack should shame those responsible for the
country’s security, noting that no serious government would allow children
sitting national examinations to become victims of armed gangs.
The former vice-president called for the immediate and
unconditional rescue of all abducted victims and urged the federal government
to strengthen security at schools and examination centres nationwide.
He also asked the federal government to move beyond routine statements and implement concrete security reforms.
“When the state fails to defend its schools, bandits
inevitably conclude that nobody else will,” Atiku said.
“The children of Nigeria deserve books instead of bullets,
classrooms instead of captivity, examinations instead of evacuation, and hope
instead of horror. That is the minimum any responsible government owes its
people.”
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