Daji Sani in Yola
In an effort to prevent the incessant abduction of students across the country, the Adamawa State Government has engaged local hunters and vigilantes to protect schools and prevent the abduction of students.
The state Commissioner of Ministry of Education and Human Service, Mrs. Wilbina Jackson, made the disclosure yesterday in Yola, the state capital, in an events organised by Education in Emergencies Working Group, to commemorate the International Day to Protect Education in the state. She noted that the government took the measure in an effort to save the state from the abductions that have occurred in many parts of the country in recent times.
The commissioner said: “The measure was a follow up to the suspension of boarding in schools so that students will attend schools from the safety of their homes.”
Jackson further explained that the vigilantes were required to complement the efforts of regular security arrangements.
The event, commemoration of International Day to Protect Education against Attack in Adamawa State’, which was organised by Education in Emergencies Working Group Nigeria in collaboration with the state Ministry of Education, featured student representatives from the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), Yola, who made a speech and staged a drama.
The state Focal Person of the Education in Emergencies Working Group, Mr. Medugu Stephen, said his organisation works with stakeholders, especially in the focal states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, to ensure that schools remain open and studies are uninterrupted irrespective of emergency situations that may arise.
“We are working in the area of seeing that education continues even in emergencies, such as abductions in parts of the country,” he told newsmen in the course of the event in Yola.
The focal person added that as much as his organisation supports de-boarding in secondary schools for security reason as the Adamawa State Government has done, his organisation is working with the state government to see that no student drops out of school, even as some may have to leave their current schools for schools nearer to their homes.
“We appreciate and encourage the moves by the state government to ensure that all students who left their school are enrolled back in schools near them,” he said.
Earlier, in the ceremony, Miss Wusayamba Markus, who delivered a speech on behalf of the students from the FGGC Yola, call for the building of fence around all schools in the country to protect students against abduction
