Anehi, Nigeria

Ever since some two hundred and seventy-six girls were kidnapped from a school in Chibok, Borno state, in 2014, some of whom not yet accounted for, the terrorists are becoming emboldened in this atrocious crime. From Chibok, the Dapchi school kidnapping in Yobe state happened in 2018 in which one hundred and ten girls were carted away. Then the abduction of three hundred students of a government secondary school in Kankara, Katsina state, occurred in December 2020. In the village of Kagara, Niger State,  February 2021, tens of students and staff were abducted. Two days before they were released, news came that another three hundred and thirteen girls of a government school in Jangebe, Zamfara state, are in kidnapper’s den. One thing that is abnormally common is the huge number of victims who are taken away at once and the time interval to know where they are located. It shows one thing; absence of intelligence and governance.

The complete failure of intelligence is no longer a thing for debate in Nigeria. The ease with which these kidnappings happen make one think if actually any form of governance exists in Nigeria. We may argue based on our bias about whether the government under which these happened respond swiftly or not, and that a different response from the current government has led to most victims being released unharmed, what is worrying is that the kidnapping is becoming a normalcy under the Buhari’s administration. Whatever our love for his administration, we must call a spade a spade.

The danger this spate of school children abduction portends for the North in particular, and Nigeria in general, is that it would further discourage parents from allowing their wards to attend schools, consequently increasing the numbers of out-of-school children and a subliminal win for Bokoharam. For a region needing incentives to increase school enrollment, especially for the girl child, this is a huge drawback. Thus, the earlier a permanent solution is found, the better for the North in particular and Nigeria in general.

I have no child at these schools, neither has any of my relations. However, these are the children of fellow Nigerians and human beings. I can’t imagine their trauma. If for instance my own child was taken away by some dirty strangers who are brandishing dangerous weapons, the type I do not even allow them to watch in a movie or cartoon, to unknown location, I would be dead even before my child was released. Apart from the physical torture these student would have gone through, some would also have been sexually assaulted in a way that the trauma will haunt them for the remaining of their life. May Allah heal the children and parents who were victims of any types of abduction.

Now, coming back to the argument of whether states are responsible for the failure leading to kidnapping and other form of insecurities. There is element of credence because so much space is left ungoverned by state governors. As I have mentioned elsewhere, for many states across Nigeria, governance ends at the state capital. Some even argue it does not go beyond government houses. Out of government house or the states capitals, you are met with a sorry state of infrastructure which would have brought human development and improved security. Nevertheless, we must not shy away from the fact that the action and inaction of the commander in chief can either improve or worsen the situation.

Where states governors are rewarding terrorists or an individual going to negotiate with them without a word of discountenance from the center, especially when the center is committing a federal resources at fighting these same terrorists, that implies a very negative perception. The recent statement from the presidency following the Jangebe abduction that states governors should reassess their engagement with terrorists came too little, too late. The body language of the central government has not shown that it has any form of jurisdiction over the states, which is why we see a lot of rascality among governors. Those who designed this system for the center to have a measure of power over the component states knew why they did that. The result of a weak center or a center which fails to assert its authority is what we are seeing today.

Governors can deceitfully claim that security is not under their control. Yet they take huge security votes without accountability. They also can deploy the full weight of the security to neutralize and terrorize opposition during electioneering period.

The kidnapping has also exposed the hypocrisy of states government to education in Nigeria. Images of classes and hostels coming from some of these schools are horrific. Buildings are decrepit while classes and living spaces are squalid. Some of these structures are unfit for the governors’ dogs or cows to live in. Schools are located in open space with no any form of security. The only arrangement of security for some are perimeter walls which look like the relics of an ancient war. Yet, these governors have their children in most expensive schools within and without Nigeria. Ohomorihi erewu nini (Allah Yai sa).

Some of us do agree that lack of education is one major reasons Bokoharam and other terror groups are able to gain recruits. Hence, if by now schools are not available for children of the poor to attend, while the few ones accessible are not even conducive to study in, it shows we have only identified a problem, but not ready to provide any solution. Consequently, the states are breeding another set of armies for a future Bokoharam.

It is abnormal that kidnapping of school children and their release is becoming the major breaking news in our national dailies. There is the need to do the needful to stem this menace. Increased level of intelligence and synergy between security operatives on one hand and the community on the other is at no other time crucial than now. There must be increased infrastructural development for communities outside of the state capitals, as most of these communities have no good access road, no presence of any kind of security operatives and are completely cut off from the rest of the state. The only time the government knows they exist is at electioneering time.

Government should also recognized that we are seriously under policed. In addition, our police personnel are poorly trained and equally badly remunerated. Thus, the low level of motivation and inadequate performance. It is for the poor conditions of service of the police force that their jobs of providing internal security has been taken over by the military, which becomes an added burden to the latter.

The central government must begin to ask governors to sit up and face the challenges of insecurity in their states. The strategy of states must be seen to align with that of the federal government in the fight against all forms of terrorism. For any state that dithers, the federal government can declare a martial law until normalcy is returned. We seems to have decided to subtly live with other types of kidnapping and criminality, but we should not by our failure, once again, normalize the kidnapping of school children.

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