Yesterday as we got the sad news about the school children abducted in Lagos, our bones chilled with shock even as shivers ran down our spines. And up till now, many are still in shock knowing that some of the students are yet to be found. The question on everyone’s lips is how such an unfortunate incident could happen at Igbonla Model College, Epe. News reports said guns were fired into the air and a cutlass was brandished. By the time the horror was ended, four J.S.S.1 students and the Vice Principal were kidnapped and taken away into the creeks.
One can’t stop wondering when Education became a crime in Nigeria. It should be recalled that this is not the first time this sort of ugly incident is happening in a Nigerian school. Nearly three years ago the infamous Chibok School Girls’ mass kidnapping incident took place, and just earlier this year some school girls were also kidnapped from Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary in Lagos. Now it has happened again; obviously becoming a trend. We cannot let this continue!
It is bad enough that virtually all the public schools in Nigeria are in deplorable states. Let’s not make it any more difficult for the students who have no choice but to study in these schools. They have to feel safe in their classrooms. The Government must do everything within its power to ensure that this doesn’t continue to happen. Terrorists must stop attacking our teenagers. Let measures be put in place to these hoodlums; now!
It is gladdening to note that two of the abducted students managed to escape from their captors and returned to narrate their ordeal. The rest of the students and the Vice Principal are however still missing. And as parents continue to hope in agony for the safe return of their children, all of us here at Passnownow.com sympathize with them.
Education is not a crime. It is high time Nigerian Students ceased to be easy targets!
