Amid growing insecurity, the Kwara State Government has closed down 45 public schools following a series of bandit attacks in several communities across the state.
The Executive Chairman of the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board, Prof. Sheu Ibrahim Adaramaja, announced the decision on Tuesday in Ilorin during the Inter-Ministerial Press Briefing organized by the Ministry of Communications.
According to Adaramaja, the affected schools are located in communities such as Babanla, Baba Sango, Sangbe, Oke-Ode, and other areas that have recently faced security threats.
He explained that the closure became necessary to protect students and teachers from possible bandit attacks.
Teachers from the affected schools, he said, have been relocated to safer areas to ensure they continue their teaching duties and justify their salaries.
Adaramaja also revealed that Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s administration has approved the 2025 promotion for teachers in the state to boost their morale and improve the quality of education in public schools.
In addition, the government has abolished the collection of Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) levies in all public schools.
Meanwhile, residents of Patigi Local Government Area have raised alarm over worsening insecurity in their communities. Hundreds of youths and community leaders took to the streets last Friday to protest what they described as relentless killings and kidnappings that have left them living in fear.
The protesters, carrying placards and chanting solidarity songs, gathered at the town center to demand urgent government action.
They accused the state government of neglecting the people of Patigi despite repeated appeals for help.
According to them, doctors have abandoned the General Hospital in Patigi because of the continuous attacks, leaving residents without medical care.
They also claimed that armed Fulani attackers have been terrorizing villages, preventing people from going to their farms and forcing many to pay huge ransoms for kidnapped relatives.
The demonstrators said they have observed new and unfamiliar faces among Fulani settlers at Kara Market, raising fears of more attacks.
They called for the relocation of the market, which they believe has become a gathering point for criminal elements.
Community elders joined the youths in appealing to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to take immediate steps to restore peace and security.
They warned that if the insecurity continues, it could lead to the total collapse of economic activities in Patigi and other parts of Kwara North.
One of the protesters said: “We, the youths and leaders of Patigi, are begging the government for urgent intervention. We are being killed day and night by armed Fulani attackers. Our hospital has no doctors because they’ve all fled. We can’t go to our farms; our crops are spoiling, and we live in constant fear.”
The protesters also accused Senator Sadiq Umar, representing Kwara North, of misleading the Senate by claiming that the area is peaceful.
They urged the state government, lawmakers, security agencies, and traditional rulers to act immediately to save lives and restore safety in their communities.
