Taiwo Jimoh 
Abduction
The recent abduction of 287 school children in Kaduna State and the kidnap of three school children in Lagos State, are indications that the recently launched School Protection Squad, is not functioning as expected or probably didn’t have sophisticated weapons to fight bandits.
These are concerns raised by security expert, who are asking the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to respond to what is happening with the return of attacks on schools across the country. These kidnappings are often carried out by bandits and insurgent groups, with motives of collecting ransom from the victim’s parents, government or force the victims into their group.
The abductions in Kaduna and also in Sokoto State are the latest in the litany of kidnappings since the 2014 abduction of Chibok girls. The last major abduction involving school children in Kaduna was in July 2021, when gunmen took more than 150 students. Last September, gunmen abducted more than 30 people, including 24 female students, in Zamfara State.
Kaduna
On Thursday, March 7, 2024, 287 students and teachers of Government Secondary School and LEA Primary School at Kuriga, Kaduna State were abducted by bandits from their classrooms. The bandits were said to have invaded the Kuriga area of Chikun Local Government Area of the state, shooting at their victims before taking away at least 287 of the pupils and teachers from both schools into the forest.
It was reported that the secondary school was relocated to the primary school because of the insecurity in the council. The incident occurred barely 24 hours after insurgents abducted 200 internally displaced women in Borno State.
Lagos
Also, Lagos State, the economic capital and former federal capital of the nation in the South West of Nigeria was not spared of the kidnapping ravaging the country, a 40-year-old woman, Alima Akintola, was recently arrested by the State Police Command for abducting three children from their school situated at the Ijegun area of the state.
The case was reported on Monday, March 12, at the Area M Police Command, Idimu by one Segun, who is said to be the headmaster of the school. The police Spokespersons in the state, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said the headmaster reported that some unknown persons invaded their school and kidnapped three students from the school premises.
He said that upon the information, detectives from the Area M moved to the scene immediately and went to the school. “The culprits were given a hot chase, where one of the suspects, a female (name withheld), who allegedly kidnapped three pre- nursery children was arrested.
“The three children were rescued. However, the other unknown suspects escaped with an unregistered motorcycle on sighting the police. “The victims, who are between ages four and six have been reunited with their families and the is in police custody,” he said. Hundeyin further said that investigation revealed that the sus
pect arrested allegedly kidnapped the children for criminal purposes. He said that the suspect and others at large, had a standby motorcycle waiting for them to carry the victims away, unfortunately, luck ran out of one of them. The image maker said that the police were on the trail of others at large.
Security experts
Some security experts who spoke with our correspondent described the abduction of the students as a national embarrassment, as the security agencies sometimes are culpable, but probably overwhelmed sometimes with the terrain of the northern states. The Executive Director, Rule of law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAC, Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, said schools have now become soft targets for kidnappers from the North, but now spreading across the country.
Nwanguma however said the recent incident in Lagos was not surprising, noting that kidnapping of school children in Lagos was not new and it is expected that political authorities and security agencies would have devised special measures to strengthen security around schools to protect school children and prevent them from further kidnap. “It is unfortunate that despite the launch of school protection squad, it is indicative that there is a gap in the measure put in place by the security agencies.
Do security agencies have the required manpower, training, equipment and motivation to provide security for citizens and especially vulnerable groups like school children? Do they have the trust, confidence and cooperation of communities to share information that they can convert to useful intelligence? “I believe setting up special squads to address specific security problems like kidnapping is one thing, but it’s another thing that they have the capacity to effectively discharge their mandate.”
He added that inadequate resources, lack of adequate training, equipment and motivation may hamper their capacity, commitment and dedication to duty. “When there are more security operatives attached to VIP’s and others who can buy security, than there are to secure the majority of ordinary citizens, do you expect a different result from what we are currently witnessing?
“However, I support the state policing and the creation of state police to some extent, it is consistent with Nigeria’s federal system of government, but state police, simply as a response to the inability of the federal police to effectively discharge their mandate may not make any difference if the factors necessitating the clamour for state police are not addressed.
Will state police guarantee adequate manpower, resources and professionalism?” Meanwhile, will it have in place effective mechanism to tackle corruption and mismanagement of security funds, impunity and lack of transparency and accountability in policing? Will state police be insulated from political, manipulation and abuse? These are the concerns.” Another security expert, Mr Femi Adeyeye queried IGP Egbetokun about the whereabouts of the School Protection Squad launched last year, with the recent abduction in Kaduna and Sokoto state respectively.
He asked; “where are the Squad? It is unfortunate that they are nowhere to be found. If they were to be on ground probably the Kaduna incident would have been prevented. They only launched it on paper? “Fine, the police are doing their best, there best is not enough. Government is also at fault. In Nigeria it is after incident had happened that we would now be applying fire brigade approach to issues. “How the students are coping in the forest where they are kept nobody can tell. Another problem is that the security agencies don’t share intelligence with each other.
They also don’t have enough modern equipment and sophisticated weapons to confront the hoodlums. “Some of the special squad in the police is supposed to be exposed to foreign training on modern equipment and technology used in fighting crime. But Nigeria will never do that; rather the politicians will steal the money meant for such project.
The senior police officers are also at fault.” A veteran crime journalist, Mr John Anucha, said it is unfortunate that students are now the target of bandit’s and insurgents. He queried the essence of inauguration of the school protection squad that are not reliable to their responsibilities, adding that it is a very unfortunate one from the police. “My question is where are drafted to? Or does it mean they were only inaugurated and they are yet to be deployed to their beats.
It beats my imagination when you claim you have a team responsible for such a work and they are not alive to their responsibility. “I could also remember a time when Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps said they also launched school protection squad, where are they? Where are they working and where is their base? We need to tell ourselves the truth in this country, things are not working as expected even from the government to security agencies and other sectors of government.
“The bandits know what they are doing, if you noticed before now they go after adults, now they are going after school children, because they know school children will raise eyebrow and create panic because of their age, unlike adults. “I like the stand of the president who said we are not going to pay. The school protection squad should go after the kidnappers and rescue the kids, now children kidnappers are now spreading to other parts of the country.”
Police
When the Force Public Relation Officer (FPRO), an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Muyiwa Adejobi , was contacted to react to the story he didn’t respond to messages sent to him. However, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Benjamin Hundeyin, advised all school managements in the state particularly, nursery and primary schools to ensure strict security in their facilities.
He said every visitor should be properly screened before accessing the school premises to avoid such cases. “There was ongoing engagement with school proprietors. All area commanders have been directed to meet with them and that is ongoing. They are to discuss security and put in place security measures and improve on it.”
