Insecurity: Atiku Calls For Closure Of Boarding Schools; Emergency On Insecurity In Nigeria |The Source

By Akinwale Kasali

Former Vice President of Nigeria and Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has called for the closure of Boarding schools in parts of the North. He also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to, with immediate effect, declare a State of Emergency on insecurity in Nigeria.

The call is coming a couple of days after the kidnapping of over 300 Students from Kankara Secondary School in Katsina State.

Condemning the abduction at the Students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State, Atiku called on the Federal  Government to declare a state of emergency in states where terrorism and banditry are rampant.

“The abduction of a large number of students at the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State, is a very unwelcome escalation of the spate of insecurity in the nation, one which I condemn in the strongest possible term.

“I, therefore, call on the Federal Government to immediately declare a state of emergency in states bedeviled by banditry and terrorism, for an offensive and decisive war on terror and insecurity.”

Atiku said the state of emergency he demands should follow the steps prescribed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

He also said that boarding schools might have to be closed temporarily in states where security is an issue to get better results.

“If we must get better results, we must implement better strategies. Strategies that may have to include the temporary stoppage of the boarding school system in all the affected states, in favour of a-day student approach until the situation is brought under control.”

He added that no sacrifice is too great to make to return law and order to the affected communities, adding that there  must be the singular focus of the Federal Government until this menace is eradicated.

He sympathized with parents of the abducted children, the government, and people of Katsina State.