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From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Research and Press Officer of the Christian Solidarity Worldwide – Nigeria (CSW-N) Mr. Reuben Buhari at the weekend warned that the frequent mass abductions in both schools and communities of vulnerable Nigerians as an attack on Nigeria’s future growth and development.
Buhari in a statement recalled the April 2014 issue when 276 students of Government Secondary School Chibok, Yobe State were herded into the bush by the Boko Haram elements in the Northeast. Regrettably, years later almost 100 of those girls are yet to return.
According to Buhari, *in between that kidnapping and today, we have had other large-scale school abductions all across certain northern states that include the 2018 abduction of 110 school girls in Dapchi, Yobe state; the 2020 abduction of about 300 boys from a secondary school in Kankara, Katsina state.
“Others are the 2021 abduction of 317 School girls 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, etc.
“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. Chikun is another local government in Kaduna state that is witnessing an upward surge in kidnapping.
“These serial abductions that are almost normative in frequencies underline both a retrogressive response from duty-bearers and a lack of intelligence utilization. This 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.
“The Chief Executive Officer of CSW-N, Reverend Yunusa Nmadu noted that the ratio of security personnel to Nigeria’s approximately 200+ million inhabitants hasn’t helped the situation. “in addition to increasing personnel to meet demands, technology should also be deployed, effective border control, stiffer penalties of perpetrators and reduction in corruption would go a long way in improving the security situation in the country”, he added.
