What makes it even more distressing is that frightened children, their parents and the nation are made to relive a nightmare that has become much too familiar. From Oyo to Kwara, Kogi to Kaduna, Zamfara to Niger, innocent Nigerians, especially school children, continue to fall victims to kidnappers, bandits and criminal gangs, operating with startling effrontery.
The citizens of Kwara and Kogi states, students, farmers and others live in terror of being kidnapped on the roadways and in their towns. The highways meant to unite states and foster economic activity have become conduits of terror. Parents are now second-guessing whether to allow their children to go on school vacations or even go a short distance within the country. The psychological damage being done to families and young Nigerians is inestimable.
But this autumn did not start today. The 2014 abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls should have been the defining moment for a full revamp of Nigeria’s security system. The world looked on in horror as terrorists seized more than 200 schoolgirls from their dormitories. Many families are still waiting for closure years later. Then followed Dapchi, Kankara, Jangebe, Tegina, Kuriga and other school attacks around the country. There was in each case a promise. They made promises. Committees were formed. But the cycle goes on.
This is why THISNIGERIA believes that the continuing abduction of schoolchildren and innocent individuals is not simply a failure of security; it is our collective disgrace. A country that cannot keep its children safe is in danger of losing its moral base.
We must not continue to pretend that Nigerian children’s lives don’t matter. We cannot continue to go from one catastrophe to the next as if mass abduction is an acceptable national condition.
The consequences are serious. In many sections of northern Nigeria in particular, school attendance has fallen as parents fear attacks. Rural schooling is in a mess. Teachers are appalled. Investors are abandoning vulnerable communities. Farmers are leaving their fields. More and more citizens feel abandoned by the very state that is supposed to safeguard them.
Even more troubling is the thriving ransom market. Families allegedly now sell property, borrow extensively or rely on community donations to have abducted loved ones freed. Criminal gangs have turned human lives into a commodity. Every successful ransom payment entrenches the networks of kidnappers more and attracts additional crooks into the obnoxious trade.
The Federal Government has to do a lot more than it is doing now. Nigerians are fed up with condolences after every tragedy. Citizens want preventive measures and concrete results. Security authorities have to work hard at breaking kidnapping syndicates and reclaiming wilderness and ungoverned spaces that criminals use as bases of operation. Intelligence gathering needs to be improved. Surveillance technology needs to be used better. Inter-agency rivalry must be replaced by unified national activity.
State governments have a key role, too. Community policing mechanisms need to be supported and local intelligence systems improved. Traditional rulers, local vigilantes and community leaders should be active collaborators in early warning and intelligence sharing methods.
And just as critical is the need for the immediate prosecution of arrested kidnappers. Nigerians rarely witness convictions that are deterrent. A sluggish criminal justice system merely breeds impunity.
But beyond security operations, authorities must deal with the socio-economic causes of criminality, including youth unemployment, poverty, drug misuse and the collapse of rural livelihoods. Desperation and anarchy have provided a fertile setting for recruitment by criminal groups.
But above all political leaders need to be urgent and sincere. Nigerians have a right to safety at school, at home, on the roads and in their communities. Schoolchildren shouldn’t have to learn under the shadow of terror.
Abduction of innocent residents, especially children, destroys the nation as a whole. It poisons our humanity and undermines our confidence in the state. Nigeria can’t continue this way. The blood, the tears and the trauma of victims require more than speeches. They want decisive action.
