Fear has gripped many Nigerians over the constant attacks on schools by terrorists, kidnappers, bandits and other suspected criminal elements. To many Nigerians, the school environment has now become an abduction ground. Many parents, especially those whose children are in the boarding schools now live in fear over the safety of their wards.

Recall that the nation was greeted on Wednesday morning with the news of an attack on Government Science College, Kagara, Niger State. Reports also had it that the school was not just attacked but students and staff of the school were abducted by the gunmen who came dressed in military uniform.

The attack on the school and abduction of the students in Niger State, which has been under immense attacks lately by gunmen believed to be bandits, did not come to many Nigerians as a surprise, because it has become the stock-in-trade of insurgents and bandits operating in the North-East, North-West and part of the North-Central geopolitical zones.

In what has become a ‘war of education’, a core objective of the Boko Haram insurgency, whose alias translates to ‘Book is Evil’, insurgents and bandits have continued to intensify attacks on schools, killing and abducting students at will. Nevertheless, it is observed that the governments at all levels and the security agents have remained helpless and only waiting to negotiate the release of the abducted.

The Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, has consequently threatened to withdraw all teachers’ services in the affected states of the federation due to insecurity in the country. NUT in a statement tagged: “Terrorist Attack on Schools and Abduction of Students/Teachers One Incident Too Many”, signed by its General Secretary, Dr Mike Ike Ene, advised the federal government to adopt a different approach in tackling insecurity in the country.

The Union expressed worries over the increasing state of insecurity in Nigeria, stressing that schools are fast becoming danger spots for bandits and other criminal elements in Nigeria.

Similarly, the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawal succinctly analyzed the effect of the war on Education when he said on Tuesday that parents, who had to be cajoled and encouraged to send their children to school in the North, may just have found a genuine reason not to do so any longer.

Lawan said: “Let me be a bit clear about the incidents of abducting students from schools.

“Almost all the incidents of abducting students from schools happened in Northern Nigerian and we all know our leaders of yesterday, probably right from independence, have worked so hard to ensure that children go to school in the Northern part of Nigeria.

“With incidents like these, we will be reversing all the gains that were made in convincing parents to take their children to school.

“So there is a need for our security agencies and government to ensure that we come up with strategies of ensuring security in schools.

“Because with these spate of kidnappings and abductions, definitely there will be that negative adverse effect on the desire and willingness of parents to allow their children to go to school.

“And the consequences of not going to school are better imagined in 21st Century Nigeria.”

Although, the insurgents and bandits operating in the Northern part of the country may have found attacks on schools as a potent tool, not just to further their agenda, but a way to attract attention and make good with the negotiations that follow. This has led to a plethora of attacks and abductions in the country.