NAN-DS-1
Security
By Olayinka Olawale
Lagos, Jan. 30, 2017 (NAN) The National Parents/Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) has advised the Federal Government to make the security of the Nigerian child a top priority in 2017.
The Deputy President II of the association, Mr Adeolu Ogunbanjo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday that the advice had become necessary in view of the need for parents to safeguard the lives of their children.
Cue in audio (Ogunbanjo)
“Nigerian parents are looking out for a situation where their children are secure in various schools particularly in view of the frequent kidnapping and all that.
“Again, government should fulfil all the promises it made concerning the education of the Nigerian child.
“Government should live up to its promises; whatever agreement it entered into with our tertiary institutions in 2009, it should live up to it, rather than re-negotiate it.
“The government has got to sort issues out with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Non-Academic Staff Union, and the Senior Staff Association Nigerian Universities, so that education can be worthwhile.
“Many people are now being careful about sending their children to public tertiary institutions because for a four year programme, they end up spending seven to eight years.
“So, government must live up to its billing or whatever promise it must have made to them.
“Thank God they are now re-negotiating, but let’s hope that this will stop incessant strike we are experiencing in the education sector.’’
Cue out audio
It will be recalled that on April 14, 2014, more than 200 girls were abducted from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, while boys were hacked to death.
Till date some have not been seen, while those released or rescued have horrid stories to tell.
Today, cultism in the country’s tertiary institutions has led to mayhem and killing of students, thereby leading to the incarceration and expulsion of both guilty and innocent students.
A UNICEF report has indicated that violent attacks have adversely affected education in the North East.
The report says that violence and the Boko Haram conflict in the region have kept many children out of the classroom for more than a year, putting them at risk of dropping out of school.
Hundreds of schools have been attacked, looted or burned by Boko Haram with the violence leading to the closure of more than 2,000 schools in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon. (NAN)
OOG/AIB/LAB/YEE
Edited by Abdulfatah Babatunde/Lydia Beshel/Emmanuel Yashim
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