NAN-H-56
Security
By Chinyere Nwachukwu
Lagos, May 27, 2017 (NAN) The National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) says it is planning to sensitise schools across the country on issues bordering on security and self-defence.
The 2nd Deputy National President of the Association, Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos.
Ogunbanjo said that the development was against the backdrop of the incessant kidnap cases being recorded in schools across the country.
NAN reports that the most recent of such cases was that of May 25 at the Igbonla Model College in Epe, Lagos.
The gunmen had abducted six students and escaped through a hole they had dug at the rear of the college fence.
They were said to have sped off with the students in the speed boats they had come with.
The college is said to be surrounded by a thick bush with a river not too far from it.
A gang of armed men had abducted some students and teachers of the same college barely seven months ago.
According to Ogunbanjo, the incident of kidnap in the college is becoming one too many, describing this as worrisome and sad.
He appealed to affected state governments to tackle the challenge promptly.
“We must rise up to nip this ugly development in our schools in the bud as quickly as possible.
“It is gradually constituting a threat to the development of the children and education generally.
“According to reports made available to us, these gunmen had actually written to the school, notifying them of their intention and yet nothing was done to prevent it.
“These kidnappers had visited the college before and this should have served as an eye-opener on the need to strengthen security around the entire college premises and environs.
“This incident is about the third or fourth that is taking place in Lagos schools alone and I do not think we are getting things right,’’ he said.
Ogunbanjo said NAPTAN would organise a sensitisation workshop on security in schools across the country.
“We are collaborating with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS).
“We are going to be talking to the students, the teachers and non-teaching staff on how to be more security conscious.
“We are starting the sensitisation programme in Lagos and we hope to write the state government before the end of the first week of June,’’ he said. (NAN)
CCN/AIB/OJO
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(Edited by Abdulfatah Babatunde/Mufutau Ojo)