Vanguard News
Kidnapping: Are students now endangered species?
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By Adesina Wahab
ON the night of April 14-15, 2014, final year secondary school girls, said to be 276 in number, were kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents at the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State. The girls were preparing for their West African Senior Secondary School Examination paper in Physics. Prior to the incident, the security situation in the area had deteriorated to the point that many schools were shut down and students from different schools were taken to Chibok to write their examinations. Out of the figure of 276 kidnapped students, some escaped and some were freed at different points in time, leaving 112 girls still missing.
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The Oyo State governor, Mr Seyi Makinde has described as half-truth reports of failure of his administration to release running grants to schools such that first term examination questions were written on chalkboards.
Pictures of examination questions written with chalk had gone viral on the digital media just as National Editor, internal journal of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Oyo State chapter, Mr Seye Obadina, while featuring on a radio programme in Ibadan, also mentioned the failure of the Makinde government to provide school running grants for the past two terms.
Addressing the situation during the Omituntun Mega Praise and End of the Year Thanksgiving service held on Tuesday, Makinde decried that the teachers’ union was dishing out half-truth on why the running grants had not been released.
By Adesina Wahab
Abduction and kidnap of students under any guise, as witnessed in the case of students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State or previous incidents in Chibok, Borno State and Dapchi, Yobe State must no longer be allowed to happen again, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT and the National Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, have warned.
The NUT and NAPTAN have therefore, called on all tiers of government and other stakeholders to take all necessary steps to curtail such incidents.
The NUT spoke to Vanguard through the National Secretary, Dr Mike Ene, while NAPTAN did same through the National President, Mr Haruna Danjuma, in separate interviews, yesterday.
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A cross-section of the rescued students of Government Science Secondary School Kankara, Katsina State. Source: Femi Adesina s Facebook Page
Abduction, most traumatic period of our lives –Parents
Our Reporters
Some of the 344 schoolboys kidnapped in Katsina State by suspected bandits and released on Thursday, six days later have recounted their experiences in the den of the kidnappers.
The pupils were kidnapped last Friday from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara. Boko Haram had on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the kidnapping though some government officials had refuted the claim that the terrorist group was involved in the mass abduction.
Released students from the Government Science Secondary school, in Kankara, in northwestern Katsina State, Nigeria leave the busses before being led into the Government House upon their release on December 18, 2020. More than 300 Nigerian schoolboys were released on Thursday after being abducted in an attack claimed by Boko Haram, officials said, although it was unclear if any more remained with their captors .Kola SULAIMON / AFP
NUT Commends Buhari, Security Agencies
The Defence Headquarters, yesterday, said abducted students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State were all rescued ‘on the heels of credible intelligence’ by Nigeria troops.
The reaction from the military high command also insisted that no ransom was paid for the release of the students, corroborating the position of Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State, who said the release was facilitated by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), who engage in talk