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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticised the recent closure of schools by the Federal Government and some state governments in response to escalating kidnappings, warning that such actions could inadvertently advance the objectives of terrorists.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Comrade Ini Ememobong, said: “If the schools are closed, the goal of the terrorists would have been inadvertently achieved.”
He urged the Federal Government to “develop a comprehensive plan to combat the issue, instead of resorting to a simplistic approach of closing schools in a bid to prevent further kidnappings and to score cheap political points.”
Ememobong said the government must prioritise the funding and implementation of the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools, which he noted is anchored on community intelligence and rapid response systems capable of anticipating and tackling attacks.
According to him, ensuring safety in schools has become imperative because insecurity poses a major “disincentivisation for education in the country, especially in Northern Nigeria.”
He expressed the party’s concern that shutting down schools would worsen the already dire educational situation in the region, citing UNICEF data indicating that Northern Nigeria accounts for the majority of the country’s 18.3 million out-of-school children—10.2 million at the primary level and 8.1 million at the secondary level.
Ememobong said: “This data not only paints a grim picture but also mirrors the exact situation in Nigeria. The series of attacks and kidnappings in different states within a week is indicative of the alarming insecurity that has become the contemporary lived experience and new reality of Nigerians under the APC-led Bola Tinubu government.”
He criticised what he described as the federal authorities’ inadequate response to recent abductions.
“More troubling is the fact that when these unfortunate incidents happen, the administration’s response is usually lacklustre and unempathetic,” he said.
“For example, instead of the President visiting Kebbi and Niger States to meet and sympathise with the parents of the children in captivity and to address security personnel there, he merely directed the Minister of State for Defence to relocate to Kebbi.”
He continued: “A juxtaposition of the contingents sent to the US Congress and the G-20 meeting with Matawalle’s lone envoy exposes the levity with which the Presidency treats this matter. This reaction is most insensitive and dismissive of the gravity of the problem by the APC-led Federal Government.”
The PDP reiterated its position that safeguarding lives and property is the foremost responsibility of government. Ememobong said: “We again remind the President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the entire APC-led administration that the security of lives and property is the primary function of any government. At any time a government is unwilling, unable, or incapable of executing this primary role, such a government must either ask for help—locally or internationally—or honourably resign, if it is sincere and responsible.”
