By Kassim Omomia, Mudiaga Affe, Ben Ogbemudia and Israel Joel
More outrage has trailed the abduction of over 300 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara State, with many prominent Nigerians declaring that kidnapping has become a money-spinner in the country.

Consequently, they urged the federal government to endeavour to check the menace as well as to live up to its responsibility of protecting life and property.

Kidnappers invaded the all-female school in Talata Mafara Local Government Area of the state, on Friday, and whisked away the students at about 2am.

Speaking on the incident, a professor of Political Science, Femi Otubanjo, alleged that there could be collusion between kidnappers and government officials.

He said, “From all indications, the bandits are not being challenged. Nobody is confronting them and if you do not contain them they will continue to expand their atrocities. That is the nature of crime, especially now that the waters have been ruffled by floating the idea of amnesty for bandits.

The way to deal with bandits is to eliminate, arrest or kill them- that is the way they are supposed to be treated.

“I agree that once kidnapping becomes fully lucrative, people in government and the bandits are likely to collude.

I am not saying they have colluded, but once you start talking about figures of between N300m and N800m, obviously those in government will not be too anxious to have kidnappers away because they can justify taking public money. Even if they gave N50m, they can claim that they offered N800m and it is a dangerous way to go”.

The Assistant Secretary-General of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Mike Modesty-Itua, also noted that he suspected compromise between government officials and the bandits.

The trend, he added, would increase the number of out-of-school children in the country.

Modesty-Itua said, “The people they are calling bandits, as far as I am concerned, are no bandits but Boko Haram elements. One of the aims of Boko Haram is to ensure that children do not attain western education.

The series of attacks that we have seen in the northern part of the country show that the Boko Haram propagation is manifesting through a different name called banditry.

“The essence of their action is to ensure that the out-of-school children population in Nigeria continues to increase. As we speak, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world. At a time, we had 10 million, but right now, they are well over 13 million and if this trend continues, it means in the next unforeseeable future, we may be having a higher number of out-of-school children.

“You can see the laissez-faire attitude in the polity. I suspect that there is an element of complicity in the matter.  It is already a money-spinner and nobody knows whether there is a collaboration between some elements in government and these guys because anything can happen.

The human mind is so corrupt that people can devise some means or ways in getting themselves enriched. So, the earlier they do the needful the better.”

Contributing, a cleric, Rev. Fr. Greg Ogbenika, who expressed reservation over the inaction of the authorities to provide cover for schools, urged security operatives to deal ruthlessly with bandits terrorising the country.    The inaction of the current administration to check the incessant attacks on schools, he added, was baffling.

Zamfara confirms abduction of female students

He noted, “I am still baffled by the inaction of this government. It gives me the impression that there is a lot that meets the eyes.

“From the information we gathered from one of the girls that was released by bandits recently, it was obvious that the government used most of these guys for elections without redeeming their promises to them (bandits and terrorists)”

“If these allegations are true, the government should fulfil their promises, so that our people would have respite”. For the Executive Director, Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Rev. David Ugolor, kidnapping has become what described as an “internal trade”.

He said, “Kidnapping has been turned into an internal trade in the country. We are now seeing that money is exchanging in the release of these children.

That sends a very strong signal about those that indulge in this crime. Unfortunately, the authorities do not have the political will to take necessary steps to stop this crime”.

Meanwhile, the Northern States Governors Forum has also condemned another attack on the girls’ college.

Chairman of the forum and Governor, Plateau State, Simon Lalong, who described the trend as “unacceptable”, called for stronger measures to end the menace.

He said “As northern governors, we are deeply saddened by this embarrassing and unfortunate attack on our children who are in schools to seek knowledge and build capacity to impact the nation and create a better society.

“The assault on schools where innocent and harmless students are targeted should not be condoned in any way because it has the tendency to set the nation back to ignorance and more poverty. The northern part of the country in particular is more educationally disadvantaged and cannot afford to have these disruptions. Enough is enough”.