By Seriki Adinoyi
The Chief Executive Officer of Afrinvest Ltd Lagos, Mr. Ike Chioke, has decried the recent spate of attacks on schools across the country, advising the federal government to adopt more proactive security measures in curbing kidnapping and killings of students in schools.
He also said that government should promote the virtues of tolerance, harmony and peaceful co-existence among Nigerian students to promote unity in the country.
Chioke said this Friday during a mentoring section organised by the National Alumni Association of Unity Schools in Jos where the association also promised to build an ICT centre, install solar panels and train staff to effectively engage the students.
He said that 39 years after his graduation, it was nostalgic to drive into Federal Government College, Jos with passion, but worried that the school had to mount police post at the gate because of the activities of bandits.
He said: “We have had so many incidents of bandits coming to kidnap students in different schools in the country; this is unacceptable in a country that is trying to raise the bar in education. You can imagine how costly it must have been for the federal government to maintain a police post in every school in the country, and these are the challenges that have come up with increased insecurity.
“I advise that as the country has grown and become more diverse, the leadership has to keep in touch with the reality of the complexity of the country, and that complexity requires that people who are closer to the grassroots be charged with their welfare.”
Chioke also noted that the school curriculum in those days provided them with opportunities to travel on excursion to different parts of the country to understudy their culture, a development he said the prevailing insecurity is gradually putting to a halt.
He encouraged the students to conceive big dreams and pursue them vigorously to liberate Nigeria from the current predicament.
The National President, FGC Jos Alumni Association, Mr. Michael Magaji, while speaking, also expressed concerns over the issues of insecurity in the country, calling on the federal government to do everything urgently to put an end to the kidnapping of students and strengthen unity schools to promote peace and unity.
An old student of FGC Jos, Dr. Garba Usman Tetengi (SAN), applauded Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd) for initiating unity schools across the country for the purpose of uniting Nigeria, just like he did with National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
