The Buhari administration appears to be helpless in meeting the security challenges schools in Nigeria are currently facing with the undying abduction of schoolchildren.
Rather than rise to the challenge, the administration is now harping on the need for the citizenry to be vigilant to end attacks on schools and abduction of students.
The charge by the Buhari administration is coming as the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri Archdiocese, Anthony Obinna, says the spate of killings in the country has made Nigeria to become a theatre of horror.
The archbishop was speaking in his homily at the one-year anniversary of Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State in Owerri, the state capital on Monday. He said incidences of killings, kidnapping, banditry and other forms of insecurity were worrisome.
While the prelate said he had read positive and negative stories about the governor, he had performed well, he called on Governor Uzodinma to work hard to fulfil the wishes of the people.
Obinna said many leaders in Nigeria preferred darkness to light, warning that punishment awaited every leader, who led with wickedness.
He listed bickering, malice and vengeance as factors causing darkness, and also maintained that God provided opportunity for repentance and called on the people to reject vengeance for peace.
However, Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, who stated this in an interview with The Punch on Monday, indicated that government cannot secure every school in the country.
According to him, government has directed schools to report any security threat to the nearest security agency.
In the interview, the minister was asked what government was doing to protect schools from incessant attacks by bandits.
He responded, “eternal vigilance is the price for security. Every nation is always concerned about the consciousness of its people. The Federal Government cannot secure every house.
‘’Everybody needs to be vigilant. We have passed this message to all our schools so that anywhere they are, if there is any threat, they know the nearest security agency to contact.”
Nwajiuba also claimed that almost all schools in the country were fenced. “Almost all the schools in Nigeria, whether private or owned by the Federal Government, are mostly all fenced, except may be some state schools.
“As you may also be aware, even if you put up a fence, these people (bandits) have been known to come through gates.
“So, perimeter fencing, by their selves are not too effective. The security consciousness is the thing. If you hear where some of them are being held, you will know that it is a question of self-consciousness, and communities informing officials on time.”
