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| Bandits and President Muhammadu Buhari |
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has called for coordinated action to stop terrorists and bandits from abducting large numbers of kids and teachers in Nigeria.
Despite the president's repeated assertions that he has subdued the criminal elements, Mr. Buhari's administration has seen a number of mass kidnappings of pupils, sometimes even including teachers.
At the 66th National Council on Education (NCE) meeting in Abuja on Thursday, his minister of education, Adamu Adamu, urged cooperation.
“The safety and security of all our children must remain paramount. Therefore all hands must be on deck to strengthen the security system of our educational institutions. Security is a collaborative effort and should not be left in the hands of the law enforcement agents alone,” stated the minister. “As such, all stakeholders in the education sector should interface and be involved through the NCE in order to address the menace of insecurity in our country, which remains one of our biggest challenges.”
Mr Adamu added, “The goals of Nigerian education are centred around building a free and democratic society, a just and egalitarian society, a united, strong and self-reliant nation and a great and dynamic economy.”
According to the minister, the Buhari regime carried out effective sensitisation on the implementation of the Safe School Declaration (SSD) Initiative and secured $20 million for accelerated emergency funding for the North-East zone from Global Partnership for Education.
He added that it had also conducted vulnerability surveys on schools to devise robust security strategies, constructed perimeter walls around schools, and installed CCTV and alarm systems.
Mr Adamu admitted that while the regime and some states, including the FCT, had done their best to arrest the situation, several states lagged behind.
He, therefore, called on all states to rise to their responsibilities and provide a safe and secure learning environment for both students and teachers.
(NAN)