By TINA TIMOTHY

The Save Public Education Campaign (SPEC) has lamented that more than 3,500 Students have been kidnapped from or around their School places in Nigeria in the last four years.

The group, In a statement on Thursday, February 1, 2024, signed by its Convener, Comrade Vivian Bello, in reaction to the recent kidnapping of school children in Ekiti state, lamented that the painful attack is another setback for Education in not just the state, but the country as a whole.

“The SAVE PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN, NIGERIA received with great pain and condemn in strongest terms, the news of the Abduction of Primary School Children in Ekiti State on 30^thJanuary 2023, on their way back home from school.

“This is yet another painful attack on, and setback for, Education in not just Ekiti State, but the Country as a whole.

“This latest attack again brings to the fore, the precarious conditions surrounding School Children’s safety in the Country and the insufficiency of efforts by concerned Authorities in this regard. As of the last count, over 3,500 Students have been kidnapped from or around their School places in Nigeria in the last 4 years, while many Teachers have also suffered a similar fate in the process. This is totally unacceptable as this violates the Children’s Right to Education, Right to Life, as well as Right to Freedom from Torture and other undignified Treatments, amongst others, as enshrined in the Child Rights Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Comrade Bello stated.

The Human Rights Activist described as “worrisome” and “unacceptable” the “glaring ineffectiveness” of the government’s scheme to safeguard schools and school children across the country “despite the Billions of Naira appropriated to it.”

The statement continues: “Only recently, the Ministry of Education as well as the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) announced the Roll-out of a Scheme and Machinery they said would safeguard Schools and end the abduction of School Children across the Country; barely few months into the said Scheme, we are confronted with yet another appalling School -kids’ abduction, pointing to glaring ineffectiveness of the touted Safe-School Initiative Machinery, despite the Billions of Naira appropriated to it. This is as worrisome as it is unacceptable as it will further scare Parents/Guardians and Children away from Schools thereby worsening the out-of-school Children epidemic threatening the Country. Presently, as a pointer to this, all Schools in Ekiti State are presently shut with Children all at home.”

SPEC therefore calls for the immediate and unconditional release of these abducted school children and charged the government, whose primary duty is to ensure the protection of lives of the citizenry, to ensure the safe release of the pupils and their teachers.

“The SAVE PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN strongly calls for the immediate and unconditional release of these abducted School Children.

We demand that the Government, whose primary duty is to ensure the protection of the Lives of the Citizenry, promptly rise to this responsibility and ensure the safe return of those Kids and their Teachers.

“The Ministry of Education must do more to oversight safety nets and processes in place for school Children attending Schools, while Security Agencies particularly, the NSCDC where the Safe-School Initiative has primarily been domiciled, must do all that is necessary to ensure that no child leaves home for School and ends up in the Bush as Bush is neither Classroom nor home,” the group says.

Consequently, SPEC warns that if any more school child is abducted, a legal action will be instituted against relevant authorities.

According to the statement, “The SAVE PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN does not mince words to state that we demand Action in these regards as we will promptly approach Court to hold the relevant Authorities to account and enforce the Rights of Children should these intolerable acts persist and School Children continue to be abducted.”