ABUJA, Dec 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A total of 10 schools were closed in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Zamfara, which shares borders with Katsina where over 300 students were declared missing after a recent attack on their school by gunmen.
Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Commissioner for Education in Zamfara, said the schools are vulnerable to bandits’ attack, and that measures have been taken to secure their lives, especially those located along the borders with other northwestern states.
“We have received the approval of Governor Bello Matawalle to close all the schools located along our borders with our neighboring states of Kaduna and Katsina, following the recent abduction of over 300 secondary school students at the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State,” Abdullahi said.
The town of Kankara shares borders with Zamfara and that attack is also a threat to students, the official said.
On Saturday, Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari ordered the closure of all boarding secondary schools in the state, following the school attack by suspected bandits
Meanwhile, the National Union of Nigerian Teachers (NUT) threatened to down tools over recent attacks on schools.
Recent attacks have posed a threat to the lives of teachers and students, the NUT said in a statement, in response to the attack on the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, in which more than 300 students went missing.
The latest attack in Katsina “sent shivers through the spine of other members” of the union in the academic community, the union noted.
On Dec 1, the Headteacher of a primary school in the southern state of Edo, identified as Alu Ola Paul, was kidnapped by gunmen on his way to work and released six days later, said the NUT.
On Dec 8, two female teachers at a secondary school in the Effurun area of the oil-rich Delta State were allegedly kidnapped within their school premises by armed bandits and have yet to be released, the teachers’ union recalled.
“In light of these recent developments, the NUT may be compelled to down tools, pending when it is safe for our members to teach and guide our pupils and students without fear of abduction by these faceless enemies of educational prosperity of the Nigerian nation,” said the statement.
Meanwhile, the NUT called on the government at all levels to ensure adequate security and 24-hour surveillance around schools.
“These incidences are sad reminders of previous ugly events in Chibok and Dapchi, where Boko Haram terrorists had attacked and abducted students, creating a monumental disruption of school activities and impeding our nation’s educational growth and advancement while subjecting family members and relatives to unimaginable trauma,” the NUT said.
Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari on Monday confirmed that government negotiators are already in touch with kidnappers of the students, refusing to disclose details of the negotiations as the authorities were trying to protect the victims and secure their release. — NNN-AGENCIES
