Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) which is the umbrella body of the nation’s teachers below tertiary institutions may direct all teachers in those troubled states to down tools unless the government acts fast to rescue safely the students and teachers, who were abducted the last couple of weeks.
The Secretary General of NUT, Dr Mike Ene, dropped this hint in an exclusive interview with the Nigerian Tribune.
According to him, NUT and its members particularly in some northern states such as Borno, Sokoto, Kaduna, Plateau and so forth are worried and in fear about going to school because they are not sure whether they and their students will be attacked and kidnapped by bandits and kidnappers while in schools.
Ene declared that this development had compelled the union at the national level to now call for an emergency meeting for next week to review the renewed mass abduction of students and their teachers in the country.
He said the union would give a direction after reviewing the situation of what members in those troubled states should do if the government at both Federal and state levels are unable or show concrete action to rescue their members, their students and also other persons in captivity of their abductors.
“So, we may likely ask our members in those states to down tools pending when the schools will be safe for them and their students,” he emphasised.
“… schools are now soft targets again for bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements in the country is not only unfair but unacceptable.
“It is like those bandits are cabals and enjoy protection from the highly placed persons or groups in the society.
“This is because we can’t understand how about 200 pupils would be taken away at a time and there was nobody in the school or the entire community with a phone to alert the security agents.
“At least, up to 50 motorcycles or more will be needed to move such a large number of people out of the school and pass through the community even if only four people were to be on one motorcycle.
“So, how would all of them be able to escape is still strange, particularly to me.
“Another thing is that where are the kidnappers keeping their victims, and how are they feeding them if at all they do, and so forth?
“So, attacks on schools are not only on students and teachers but on the country’s educational system.
“We don’t want a repeat of what happened to Chibok girls in 2014 when about 300 school girls were abducted and till now some are still in captivity 10 years after.
“Therefore, the government will need to declare a fresh state of emergency on safe schools not only in the north but nationwide and also be more proactive to ensure the safety of people wherever they choose to live and work across the country.
“Capital punishment will discourage many from going into kindnapping and banditry.”
While calling on government at all levels and the society at large to rise against this menace and stop the practice before it goes out of hands again, Ene said people must now be more security conscious and ready to say something if they notice strange happenings around them.
He equally advocated community policing, arguing that such local security agencies like the Metro Police in the UK, would be able to police their jurisdictions effectively because they would be more familiar with the terrains under them.