RETURN OF MASS ABDUCTION IN THE NORTH

·         Insecurity continues to be one of the major problems plaguing Nigeria.

·         In recent times, there has been an increase in kidnapping and banditry, posing a grievous threat to national security and economic development. Not only has this adversely affected our national image but has also eaten deep into every fabric of the nation. Badly affected is Northern Nigeria which has become the epicenter of banditry and kidnapping for ransoms.

 The spate of abduction of school children is worrying. Mass kidnappings of school girls and boys at schools in the North-East and North-West Nigeria began several years ago and have become a frequent phenomenon, carried out by rapacious bandits who have turned this menace into money-making ventures. This form of brazen terrorism has unfortunately not been met with the level of aggression that is needed to address the crime. Since 2014, according to several news reports, there have been over a thousand student kidnappings. These crimes have been targeted at underage school children who are often made vulnerable by poor security infrastructure and negligence on the part of the state and federal governments. In recent times, the public has begun to recall the Chibok incident in north-eastern Borno state where 276 girls were kidnapped in April 2014. About 100 of them are still missing. In Kaduna, 39 students went missing after gunmen stormed the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization on March 11, 2021.

 One can count series of abduction in the north. Last week, the bandits invaded Kuriga primary and secondary school, in Chikun local government and abducted 287 students. The abduction came barely one week after similar attack was carried out in Borno State, by Boko Haram and 200 innocent women kidnapped. In Katsina and Zamfara States, mass abduction by bandits has become a recurring dismal. Those states have been experiencing attacks by bandits, leading to the closure of schools. The motive behind the abduction is to discourage acquiring western education in the north. The authorities cannot continue to play to the tune of these culprits by rewarding them with ransoms. State governments and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must step up measures to stem the growing criminality. 

·          Ibrahim Mustapha, Pambegua, Kaduna State