Zamfara: 75 secondary schools shut since 2021 over insecurity

Kabiru Attahiru, permanent secretary in the Zamfara ministry of education, says at least 75 secondary schools in the state are still shut because of security concerns.

He spoke on Saturday during a two-day meeting to domesticate the national policy on gender in education (NPGE) organised by the state’s universal basic education board in partnership with UNICEF.

Attahiru said most of the schools have been closed since September 2021 following attacks on two girls’ schools.

The abduction of 75 students from Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, in Maradun LGA of the state, Attahiru said, had prompted a directive from the government to close the schools.

The permanent secretary said the state government was working round-the-clock to reopen the schools while emphasising the need to include field officers in the national education policy formulation on gender education to attain the desired result.

ZAMFARA’S SECURITY SITUATION

TheCable Index, the data and research arm of TheCable, had earlier released a report showing Zamfara as the state with the highest number of killings in 2021.

In April, Zamfara was reported as the state with the second-highest number of reported deaths.

The BBC had also released a 50-minute documentary titled ‘The bandit warlords of Zamfara’ featuring Abu Sanni, a self-confessed bandit who said he helped mastermind the abduction of schoolgirls in the state.

The documentary shed light on the mindset of bandit leaders, the booming nature of the kidnap-for-ransom business — and how insecurity in Zamfara may have been triggered by ethnic conflict between Hausa and Fulani groups.