FG reveals schools in 14 states where bandits plan to attack

The Federal Government has issued a severe warning, stating that schools in 14 states across Nigeria, as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, are vulnerable to attacks by bandits and insurgents.

Hajia Halima Iliya, Nigeria’s National Coordinator of Financing Safe Schools, revealed that data on at-risk schools had been collected for intervention.

While the particular states were not given, Hammed Abodunrin of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps’ National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre stated that they include Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Benue, Yobe, Katsina, FCT, Kebbi, Sokoto, Plateau, Zamfara, and three others.

The news follows a series of abductions targeting schools across the country. Over 465 students, instructors, and women are currently being held captive.

This includes the recent abduction of fifteen students from an Islamiya school in Sokoto State and the kidnapping of 287 schoolchildren and instructors from schools in Kaduna State, with 28 recorded escapes and 259 still held captive.

Prior to the Kaduna occurrences, militants kidnapped 200 female internally displaced persons in Borno State, with nine reported releases and 191 still in captivity.

As concerns about the safety of educational institutions mount, the federal government and security services are under increasing pressure to handle the escalating security risks to schools across the country.