The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, at the weekend tasked the federal government led by President Muhammadu Buhari, to clampdown, eliminate bandits and kidnappers in the northern region to avert killing education in the area.
The students body, however, expressed worries over the recent activities of bandits and kidnappers in the country, stressing that insecurity in the northern region has disturbing dimensions and would tear the country apart if not checkmated.
NANS President, Comrade Sunday Asefon, made this known during its 65th Emergency Meeting, at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo Annex, Abakaliki capital of Ebonyi state.
Asefon noted that it was high time the government took decisive and drastic measures to arrest the security challenges facing the country adding that nobody is safe anymore the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him: “Two weeks ago, I called on the Federal Government to declare bandits and kidnappers as terrorists.
“On Thursday, I got a call that our colleagues (students) from the Federal College of Forestry and Mechanisation, Kaduna, were kidnapped. And as I speak to you today, about 26 students are still in the custody of kidnappers.
“Now, these incessant attacks on students have become a threat to education. I told the Government that kidnappings and banditry in the Northeast is about sending education to the grave, in that region.
“This is also a threat to the future of students in that region. The leaders of that region should come together, irrespective of their religious and political inclinations, to address the situation. This is because the spates of banditry and kidnappings have become a cause of worry.
“They (bandits and kidnappers), started with pupils at primary and secondary schools; now, they have entered into our tertiary institutions. To these people, it has turned into a lucrative business and it’s worrisome. It’s now alarming. We know that one of the responsibilities of Government is to provide security of lives and property of the citizens. But in a situation, where the government is unable to do this anymore, it becomes imperative that all hands must be on deck to arrest the situation.
“We are calling on the Government to take decisive measures to address the situation, before it consumes us all. I’m not saying the Federal Government has failed to provide security to the citizenry, but it should take decisive and drastic measures to arrest the ugly situation.
“This ugly trend is alarming now and no one feels safe again, because the society is no longer safe. Down here in the South, you hear cases of women being raped and killed in their farms. Our roads are no longer safe. It’s terrible and it should cost our leaders sleepless nights, while thinking of how to bring it to an end.” He noted.
