KIDNAPPINGS: Osun Convenes Urgent Session to Address Security Concerns at Border Schools

In a swift response to escalating security concerns, the Osun State government convened an urgent meeting to address the growing threats to schools in certain areas of the state yesterday.

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This move came on the heels of renewed calls by the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, for enhanced security measures in schools situated in remote and border communities, which share boundaries with neighbouring states.

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The emergency meeting was also prompted by mass protests held earlier in the day in Ibadan and Ogbomoso, where demonstrators drew attention to the plight of abducted victims.

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According to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, the Osun State NUT chairman, Babalola Babatunde, revealed that the Commissioner for Education, Dipo Eluwole, had scheduled the meeting following consultations with the union.

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Babalola Babatunde emphasized that the deployment of additional security personnel to remote schools was now crucial to prevent attacks and kidnappings by bandits, citing the vulnerability of schools located near forests and border communities.

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He asserted that teaching should not be a high-risk profession, stating that schools in remote areas are often far from urban centres, making them easy targets for bandits and kidnappers.

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The union has requested the deployment of more security personnel, including operatives from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, the police, and the Department of State Services, DSS, to schools in border communities.

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In a show of solidarity, members of the union are also set to participate in a nationwide rally, declared by the national NUT leadership, to demand the unconditional release of the Ogbomoso schoolchildren and teachers abducted on May 15.