Rep: School abductions could cripple education in the north

Aminu Jaji, a member of the house of representatives, says recurring abductions of students and pupils in the north may cripple education in the region.

Speaking with journalists on Tuesday in Abuja, Jaji who represents Birnin-Magaji/Kaura federal constituency in Zamfara, said the lack of synergy between state and federal governments has resulted in the lingering insecurity in the country.

Besides the protracted insecurity across the nation, the north-west, particularly Zamfara, has experienced frequent school abductions. 

The worrying trend sees gunmen invade hostels, abduct students and release them, in many cases after collecting huge ransoms. 

Jaji said insecurity can end within six months if the government applies a “holistic approach” to deal with it.

The lawmaker opposed dialogue with bandits, saying previous attempts have not addressed the menace. 

“For the past three weeks, there has been a lot of blame game between the Zamfara state government and the federal government about the issue of dialogue which I find unpalatable, given the fact that the issue of security is not something that we should play with,” he said. 

“The previous administration in Zamfara dialogued with bandits. It happened in Sokoto and Katsina. What are the outcomes? At the end of the day, the outcome is zero.

“I said it is zero simply because the bandits only consider it as an avenue to be more integrated within the community to recruit more people to be part of them.

“People will say there is no need for them to take their children to school because they are not safe. That means the educational system in the entire north is going to be crippled by the heinous activities of the criminals.”

The All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker, who chaired the committee on national security and intelligence in the eighth assembly, said the government’s approach at the state and federal levels doesn’t show that they are ready to tackle the insecurity challenge. 

“It (insecurity) must be addressed squarely, blame game must stop,” he said. 

He said the government does not lack the capacity and ability to fight insecurity but is “not ready to end this banditry in the country”. 

The legislator also called on the federal government to fish out soldiers who dialogue with bandits in the states without the consent of state governments. 

“Going by the international standard of dialogue, it must follow the standard. The current dialogue does not meet international standards,” he said.