The Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development (CSCSD) has called on Nigerian Government for urgent proactive action to curb the incessant kidnapped of students by bandits.
Penpushing reports that, the group made the appeal in a statement jointly signed by Prof Olubunmi Ashimolowo (Chair, Technical Working Group) Rev Peter Ishaya Kuzaswat(Secretary) and Prof Tola Winjobi (National Coordinator)
The coalition while lamenting over the ugly trend pointed out that, this negative trend is jeopardizing the future of the youths and indeed the future of the country.
Penpushing further reports that, the body in its recommendation to address the menace added that government should beef up security around schools, particularly, those in high-risk areas with such security gadgets that could relay early warning signs of possible intruders.
‘We solicit for a robust institutional arrangement of local hunters, local vigilantes, and all security agencies to collaborate to provide security around our schools to prevent kidnapping’.
‘There should be early warning mechanism and response framework serving as a guide for security agencies on the effective handling of kidnapping’.
‘There should be public awareness campaign to inform citizens about available services like reporting hotlines with intelligence gathering.
‘There should be knowledge gap capacity building for security forces and local security outfits aimed at addressing the dominant forms of kidnapping peculiar to each state of the federation’.
‘Government should deploy modern security apparatus and technological advancement to track down the perpetrators of this evil trend while GSM operators should cooperate with government in communication tracking systems’.
‘Governments at all levels should implement youth-friendly policies for youth engagement and empowerment in order to take them out of criminal tendencies’.
‘There should be the implementation of the Safe School Initiative as was launched after the kidnapped of Chibok’s girls that will ensure that schools located in relatively high risk areas, are transferred to
safer schools location instead of outright closure of such schools as has been done by the Kaduna state government where 13 Schools were closed down in one day’.
‘In Kaduna State where school kidnapping is prevalent, government must work round the clock to arrest the situation before it overwhelms the citizenry. Schools everywhere in this nation must be safe and conducive for learning’.
‘We call for an urgent legislation by the National Assembly in favour of the creation of State Police, so that governors can effectively take control of security challenges in their states while community policing should take roots in each local government area.
Penpushing reports that, the group observed that Nigeria is gradually failing in the attainment of SDGs. Goal 4 of quality education stating that the activities of the kidnappers and bandits indeed not only threaten education (let alone quality education) but also strengthen the rate of out-of-school children and thus achieving the aim of Boko Haram which is western education is forbidden.
The coalition emphasised that Nigerian governments at all levels, with the security agencies, community leaders and school administrators must work together in securing schools and help reverse this terrible trend to avoid total collapse of the school system and by extension, our nation.
‘It is pertinent to bring to fore that of the estimated 13 million out-of-school children in the country, 69 percent come from the North, and it is feared that kidnapping will further compound the problem’.
‘As a consequence to the spate of recent school kidnappings, community and parental trust in the education system could shrink significantly, and the problem of access to quality and equitable education according to Goal4 of the SDGs could be a mirage’
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