Kano state government: The baby and the bathwater

Violence against school children is one phenomenon that has been with us for quite a long time now, but we either fail to see it or we see it but pretend it does not exist. If they are not abused by teachers under whose care they are placed, they are bullied by mates or senior colleagues. Neither the authorities (government or school) nor guardians (parents or relatives) seem to be doing anything with a view to ensuring the safety of our future leaders.

The inhumanity of man to man was brought to the fore once again as the ever-diminishing premium placed on human life in our society manifested when the news broke that a five-year-old Hanifa Abubakar, has been murdered by one Abdulmalik Tanko, the proprietor of Noble Kids Nursery and Primary School, Kwanar Dakata in Nasarawa local government of Kano state, where the deceased was schooling. The news became more chilling when the picture of the beautiful Hanifa adorned the pages of Nigerian newspapers. The suspect was later arrested over the incident. The proprietor of the academy, a private school, who was reported to have kidnapped Hanifa sometime last year allegedly killed her (fed her with poison) after money reportedly exchanged hands between the parents, who so much craved her freedom and eventual reunion with the family, and her abductors who allegedly demanded ₦6 million but got ₦100,000. He probably killed the innocent child because he sensed the girl might have recognised him and would provide a lead that could lead to his arrest.

The news of the unfortunate incident sparked national rage with many prominent Nigerians, including President Muhammnadu Buhari, the first lady, Aisha Buhari, and Nigerian social media influencers calling for justice for the victim trended with the hashtag #JusticeForHanifa. In a viral video on social media, the suspect when paraded before the media in Kano said he fell on hard times hence the decision to take to crime – kidnapping. He claims, in the said video, to be regretting his action.

Meanwhile, some irate youths were said to have set the school ablaze in a moment of public outrage. That, of course, to me is not unexpected considering how callous the act is even though I despise jungle justice as much as the law prohibits it.

This is Kano, a state in a region with the highest rate of “out-of-school” children in Nigeria, where a substantial number of parents are not likely to willingly enroll their children in school unless forced to do so and this dangerous trend of perpetual endangerment of school children will, no doubt, further lubricate the argument of those who are opposed to the idea of enrolling their children in school for western education or those of ideologues such as “Boko Haramists” who abhor western education in its totality. The focus will now shift from “let-the-child-go-to-school” to “Would-the-child-return-safely?”. Going to school would no longer be an issue instead it will be how to ensure a safe return from school. And since nobody wants to lose a child in the name of acquiring Western education, that line of argument is more likely than not, to gain traction.

The executive governor of Kano state Umar Abdullahi Ganduje, in a knee-jerk reaction, after having ordered that the school be shut down, announced the revocation of licenses of all privately-owned (primary and secondary) schools in the state. The state’s commissioner for education, Sunusi Sa’id Kiru, who made the announcement on behalf of the governor, on Monday, January 24, 2022, said the revoked licenses will be reviewed and revalidated after certification. The state government posited that it is a part of efforts to sanitize the administration of private schools as well as to curtail the re-occurrence of bad incidences in the state. A search through the official website of the Kano state ministry of education (https://ministryofeducation.kn.gov.ng) reveals there are no fewer than two hundred private schools in the state. Now let us assume there is an average of 1,000 in each of them if we multiply 1,000 by 200, we will be talking of about 200,000 pupils. That means the pronouncement put on hold, the academic careers of that massive number of “future leaders”. That is not too cool a statistic.

Much as I agree, there is a need to sanitise the sector and ensure the safety of school kids, the move looks bizarre, especially when one considers the yawning gap, private investors fill in the Nigerian educational sector. Primary school enrollment in Nigeria according to Statista states: “In 2018, Nigeria counted 22.4 million children enrolled in public elementary schools and 5.5 million in private schools”. That is, about 19.7% of the total enrollment of children from ages six to seven are catered for by private intervention in the nation’s education sector. Again, a look at the quality of education/instructions, received from some, if not most of, public schools, compared to what is obtainable in private schools leaves much to be desired. It must be noted, however, that, the fact that the latter is better than the former is not down to a lack of qualified teaching personnel, or up-to-date instructional materials, but to the inefficiency that characterises operations in the public sector. Inadequate supervision, among others.

If the vacuum filled by private schools in the country is this much, it is baffling, to say the least, how the governor of a state like Kano would decide to “throw away the baby, with the bathwater”, proverbially speaking? Is it (this one incident) enough to paint all the private schools in the State with one brush?

Please, do not get me wrong; from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara Katsina state; Government Science Secondary school, Kagara Niger state; Federal Government College, Birnin-Yauri, Kebbi state; Federal Government College Buni Yadi in Yobe state; Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok Borno state; Deeper Life High School, Uyo, Akwa Ibom state; Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja; Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos state; to Noble Kids Academy, Kano, it has been one case of assault or the other, against the innocent Nigerian school-child. So the need for a strong response from the government to serve as a deterrent to other prospective criminals can never be overemphasised. But, utmost care must be exercised by the relevant authorities, so as not to deploy “decapitation” as a therapy for headaches. Justice must be served, the late Hanifa Abubakar and her family, and others who have suffered this kind of unfortunate fate, by bringing the perpetrators of the dastardly acts to book. That, I opine, should not be at the detriment of all other innocent, responsible, and law-abiding private school owners in Kano state, who cater for the educational needs of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pupils who are under their care and tutelage.

The federal and the respective state governments need to ensure strict adherence to the provisions of the Child’s Right Act (2003) by stakeholders in order to safeguard the rights, freedom from physical harm, and the dignity of children, wherever they may be, especially the custody of those in whose care they are entrusted.

Abubakar writes from Ilorin. He can be reached via 08051388285 or [email protected]