From Fred Ezeh, Abuja and Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the commercial vehicle owners in Onitsha, Anambra State have urged President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on security.
The NUT President, Titus Amba, who addressed journalists at the annual Solemn Assembly of the union in Abuja, yesterday, said in recent times, Nigeria has recorded unprecedented security challenges and government must take decisive action to address them.
The NUT said its members were evading classes in many communities in some states because the schools were unsafe, and teachers have become targets of armed non-state actors bent on unleashing terror and penury on the people.
He lamented that cases of teachers, particularly in the rural and semi-urban communities being kidnapped and killed in the last few months, have sent deep fears in members, thus their decision to take precautions.
He narrated a recent case in Kaduna State, where a principal in a public basic schools in one of the communities in Birnin Gwari, was kidnapped alongside his three children.
“Millions of naira were demanded for the release of the principal and his children. I can confirm to you that the man has been killed while his children are still being held captive by the kidnappers.”
He suggested that the Federal Government declares a state of emergency in the security system, and it should remain until the security situation in the country improves.
“Governments at all levels should also do the needful since security is everybody’s business. Undoubtedly, no meaningful development can be achieved without security assurance in the country.
“So, it’s imperative to move all stumbling blocks that are bedeviling our security architecture. It’s also our desire that government at all levels, and all stakeholders should join hands to protect our schools and the education workers in Nigeria.”
On teachers’ welfare, Amba appealed for Constitutional amendment on the funding of primary and secondary education to be on the first line charge in the revenue allocation in the country.
“It is our belief that when enacted into law, it will go a long way to address the issue of irregular salary payment of teachers across the states.
“Teachers’ professional Salary Structure that is supposed to have been implemented in the year 2023, has not been accommodated in the budget as such we will continue to push for its implementation,” he said.
The NUT president stressed the need for a uniform scheme of service for all teachers adding that the union would ensure its actualisation.
He urged the government to implement an acceptable and sustainable minimum wage for workers and Nigerian teachers.
In a separate interview, a stakeholder in the transport business and security analyst in Onitsha, Dominic Okafor, also called on President Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on security to stem the tide of violent crimes and ensure a safer highway for road users and transporters in the country.
He decried the spate of kidnappings and other violent crimes on the highway across the country and called for withholding of governor’s security votes in states where such deadly violent crimes are prevalent, until they sit up to combat the scourge.
Okafor, who spoke in the wake of reported attack on a commercial bus belonging to a popular transporter in Onitsha (the driver was gunned down and while all the passengers except a little boy aboard the bus on the Benin-Lagos highway were abducted), said it was time the Federal Government declared a state of emergency on security in Nigeria.
He regretted that the police, army and other security agencies would mount roadblocks on the highways and concentrate only on collecting tolls from motorists, while armed robberies and kidnapping operations would be ongoing 100 yards away without any intervention.
“In the past weeks, over 20 commercial buses had been waylaid and their passengers either killed or kidnapped on the highway without security agencies’ intervention in resolving this dangerous trend. That is too bad,” he said.
Okafor queried whether the police and army were complicit with criminals in making the highways dangerous to travel on.
He said as a matter of national security emergencies, the police, army and other security agencies should be equipped with operational patrol vehicles, armoured cars, walkie-talkies, drones and other logistics, including prompt payment of duty allowances to security personnel on duty.
He pointed out that armed robberies and kidnapping of passengers in commercial buses had become rampant in states like Edo, Delta, Kogi and Abuja.
He called on governors of the states, and the bosses of security agencies in their domain to sit up and tackle the security challenges or resign from their offices and make room for more competent hands to take over and fight highway crimes to make the roads safe.