As abduction of students and teachers across secondary schools in the northern part of the country continue unabated, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), said it would shut down schools, if nothing is done to stop the trend.
National President of NUT, Dr. Nasir Idris gave the indication in his reaction to attacks on schools by bandits that has brought about hardships to students and teachers.
Dr. Idris warned that the body would constitute emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee to take a decision, saying that banditry attack on schools was unacceptable.
He warned that no parent will sent their ward to school,nor their safety is not guaranteed, noting that government should act on the issue without delay.
Accordingvto him: “It was unfortunate that banditry and kidnapping have become a lucrative business for the criminals, and that the lives of students and teachers were no longer safe.
“I want to call for full implementation of the Safe School Initiative which was designed to provide protection for schools including fencing of schools, provision of security and other safety measures.
Dr. Idris lamented the non implementation of a programme that would have saved schools from criminals’ invasion which was meant for schools across the country and not the schools in the North East alone.
He said: “These abductions here and there are deliberate steps to discourage education and encourage school drop out.
“It is unfortunate that schools have now become soft targets and we appear helpless. You can see that by targeting boys-only schools and girls-only schools; their aim is to discourage both male and female from going to school.
Idris said the NUT would shut down schools nationwide if it becomes unsafe for teachers and students to be in schools.
The union leader berates Zamfara State governor, Alhaji Bello Matawalle who claimed that his amnesty programme for bandits was working.
He advised the Federal Government to prioritise security in schools, saying all the schools should be fenced and the walls high so that anybody who manages to scale it would do that in a way that he would make noise that would attract the attention of security people.
“Also, schools should have military and local vigilantes guarding them. The local vigilantes would help provide necessary security information and tips for the military to work on in line with the safe school initiative” he said.
