….As Sheikh Gumi secures release of kidnapped students
Country Director of Plan International Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation working on girls’ rights, Hussaini Abdu has tasked the governments at state and federal levels to ensure the safe return of the abducted students and teachers of Government Science College, in Kagara, Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State.
“It is a shame that another kidnapping of school children has occurred again in Kagara, this time in Niger state barely two months after the Kankara, Katsina state incident,” Hussaini Abdu said in a statement.
Armed men reportedly stormed the Government Science College Kagara in Niger State at about 2am on Tuesday the 17th of February, 2021 and abducted more than 40 students, staff and family members, according to media reports.
“We strongly condemn the constant attacks on children and educational facilities across the country. Education is a fundamental right of every child and under no circumstances should they be denied of it,” Abdu said.
The call for urgent rescue efforts came shortly before the kidnapped students were released by their abductors late in the evening on Thursday, to a foremost Islamic scholar based in Kaduna State, Sheikh Ahmed Gumi.
It was further learnt that the students gained their freedom after Sheikh Ahmad Gumi met with the leader of the bandits identified as Dogo Gide and the two parties reached a truce.
Abdu also urged the federal government to develop and deploy new strategies to deal with the new threats to the security and safety of children and their education.
“We advise the state governments to have a thorough security assessment of all boarding facilities and convert those in at-risks communities to day schools and return students from distant communities to schools within their immediate communities. This is to ensure that boarding schools are without children at night’’.
“We advise the governments at the federal and state levels to urgently address issues of security of schools and other learning centres, in line with the commitment of the country to the Safe School Declaration, an inter-governmental political commitment to schools’ security, it signed on to.
“Governments must also prioritise building of capacities of communities and support them to develop an early warning system and community-led security structures.
Segun Fatuase with Agency reports