It’s no longer interesting seeing screaming headlines of abduction on the national dailies. Abduction isn’t bizarre anymore to Nigerians as it happens day in day out.
I have no idea when kidnapping became rampant in Nigeria. However, I blame our teeming populace, government, traditional rulers as well as stakeholders for not working together to put an end to the menace.
Of course, government is in a better position to provide security to its citizens as it’s its primary responsibility to protect lives and property but our collective efforts are indeed necessary in the fight against terrorism.
Kidnapping isn’t a matter of a joke that one can take for granted; it’s a threat to national security in the sense that it will come to affect the whole affairs of the nation if it isn’t nipped in the bud.
Education is very important in human endeavour; it’s the illuminating platform of every successful nation on earth. Unfortunately, our education is at stake; every day it is a different story and we refuse to wake up and do the needful.
These mass schools boys and girls abductions started in Chibok around 2014 to 2015 whereby nearly 300 girls were kidnapped by the members of Boko Haram. One of the latest abductions that attracted the world’s attention and led to quite a number of demonstrations across the globe demanding the immediate release of the girls; eventually few are still in captivity.
Same event took place on February 19, 2018, whereby another set of 110 school girls were abducted in Dapchi Yobe state, that’s nearly four years after the Chibok saga, and till today there is one Lee Sharibu in captivity.
Without rest of mind or mourning, another batch of above 300 school boys kidnapped by unknown gunmen at Kankara boarding school, Katsina state. In the same development another set of school boys were abducted in Kagara Niger state in less than five months after the Kankara saga.
Hmm!!! Take a look at all these kidnapping issues, are they not threat to our national security and fates of our wards in particular?
It will become more rampant when we continue to fold our hands without doing the needful. People don’t keep blaming the government all the time when we have a crucial role to play in restoring peace.
It perplexes me whenever I read or listen to kidnap news. However, the abductors are creating fears in our minds so as to stop sending our wards to school for fear of abduction. Of course, it’s peculiar to the terrorists (extremists) mission in accomplishing their goals of stopping our wards from going to school.
It started in the Northeast, shifted to Northwest and gradually moved to North-central; who knows what will happen next?
It keeps migrating here and there, and before we realise it will take over the whole nation, God forbid. Additionally, I observe that a lot of people have stopped traveling by road for fear of being kidnapped. Assuming we stop traveling by road, students stop going to school, tourism, then why do you think kidnapping won’t stop? Gradually it’s taking over things bit by bit.
Therefore, the abductors are indeed doing more harm to our community and the more we keep eyeing it without necessary action, the more threat it will become to our national security.
Lastly, we have no time. That is to say it’s our collective responsibility to wake up and do the needful; the government alone can’t accomplish the task of securing Nigeria without our help. Together we can move forward, divided we end in a dilemma. Let’s be peace keepers by reporting any suspicious movement to the relevant authorities.
Hassan Muhammad Khan,
Department of Mass Communication,
University of Maiduguri
