Due to series of bandit attacks in some communities across Niger state, the State government has shutdown 45 public schools.
Sheu Ibrahim Adaramaja, the Executive Chairman of the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board, disclosed this on Tuesday in Ilorin during the Inter-Ministerial Press Briefing Report organised by the Ministry of Communications.
“The decision to close down the affected schools is to safeguard the students and teachers from being attacked by suspected bandits in those communities.
“Teachers from the affected schools had been relocated to safer areas to justify their monthly salaries and ensure continuity of teaching activities,” he said.
According to Adaramaja, the affected schools are located in communities such as Babanla, Baba Sango, Sangbe, Oke-Ode, and other areas that have recently witnessed security threats.
Adaramaja announced that government has abolished the payment of Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) levies in all public schools.
Last Friday, hundreds of residents, including youth and community leaders of Patigi Local Government Area in Kwara State, had reportedly taken to the streets protesting the worsening state of insecurity that has left their communities in fear and their hospital without doctors.
The protesters, carrying placards and chanting solidarity songs, gathered at the town center to express their frustration over what they described as unending killings and kidnappings that have plagued the area for months.
They accused the state government of neglecting the people of Patigi despite repeated appeals for intervention.
According to the demonstrators, the General Hospital in Patigi has been deserted by doctors who fled the town due to the escalating violence.
The protesters alleged that armed Fulani attackers had been terrorising their villages, making it unsafe for residents to go to their farms or move freely, especially at night.
They said they noticed new and unfamiliar faces among the Fulani settlers at Kara Market, sparking fears of more attacks.
Community elders, joining the youth in the protest, appealed to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to take immediate action to restore peace and security in the area.
They warned that unless urgent steps were taken, the insecurity could lead to total economic collapse in Patigi and other parts of Kwara North.
They noted that anyone claiming that Kwara State is peaceful is not telling the truth. The youths lamented that they are being killed and kidnapped daily, while people are forced to pay ransoms worth millions of naira as their investments continue to perish.
They also criticised Senator Sadiq Umar, who represents Kwara North Senatorial District, accusing him of misrepresenting the situation before the Senate.
The demonstrators called for the relocation of the Kara Market, which they said has become a hub for suspicious activities, and demanded the deployment of more security personnel to patrol rural communities and forest areas where kidnappers are believed to be operating from.
They urged traditional rulers, lawmakers, and security agencies to work together to end the insecurity, warning that continued silence from authorities could lead to more loss of lives and property.
Veteran journalist and recipient of A.B.C Yola, Reporter of the Year Award (1997), Hassan Umar Shallpella, works with WAP as a Regional Correspondence. He was trained at Institute of Mass Communication and Technology Jos and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Training School Lagos.He was a News desk Editor and a Correspondent at the Punch newspaper and till 2019, was the Deputy Editor ofThe Scope newspaper.
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