THE Zamfara State government has opened 45 of the 75 schools it shut in September 2021 over insecurity, leaving 30 to remain closed.
Permanent Secretary in the state’s Ministry of Education Kabiru Attahiru disclosed this while receiving members of the state’s Technical Team on Education in Emergencies in his office, the New Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported on Wednesday.
The government closed the schools after gunmen abducted scores of students of Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, in the Maradun Local Government Area of the state.
Before the decision, terrorists, branded as bandits, had stormed schools in the state and whisked away students, teachers and other staff.
Abductions, largely carried out for ransoms, were also rife in Zamfara’s neighbours, Niger, Kaduna, Katsina and Sokoto.
With the resumption, the government has categorised schools in the state into green, yellow and red.
Green schools are those in areas without security threats. Yellow schools are found in areas with little threat of insecurity, while red schools are in areas with high-security risks, Attahiru said.
According to him, all 75 schools were in the red group when closed by the government, and they could not be allowed to operate.
“Today, I am happy to inform you that as a result of the improvement of security in the state, we reopened 45 out of the 75 schools, while only 30 of the schools remained shut.
“Government and security agencies have been working together to ensure improved security in the state.
“We are hoping for more improvement in security in the state so that we can reopen the remaining 30 schools,’’ he stated.
While commending his guests and partners who support education in the state, the permanent secretary pledged the government’s commitment to education.
The ICIR reports that while Zamfara is just reopening some schools while keeping others under lock, other states across the nation have spent at least a month in a new academic session, which started in September.
Though the nation’s security forces have neutralised many terrorists troubling the North-West in recent weeks, Zamfara and its neighbours – Niger, Kaduna, Katsina and Sokoto – still grapple with killings, cattle rustling and other violent activities by terrorists and marauders.
Activities of the gunmen had forced the state and its neighbours to shut down telecom operations believed to be aiding criminals’ operations, among other measures, in 2021. But the efforts failed to stop the terrorists.
Scores of abduction incidents have occurred in the North-West, forcing residents to flee their communities and abandon their means of livelihood.
Apart from the North-West, other regions in Nigeria contend with insecurity. While the North-East has witnessed over a decade of bombardments and other atrocities by the Boko Haram and Islamic West Africa Province (ISWAP), the South-East struggles with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and ‘unknown gunmen’ who continue to terrorise the region.
In the South-South, oil thieves are having a field day while the Federal Government tries to curb lingering farmer-herders conflicts that have left hundreds dead and thousands displaced in the North-Central.
Ritual killings have been a great concern in the South-West, which also experiences pockets of abductions and other organized crimes.
The ICIR reports that insecurity had almost consumed Nigeria in the first half of this year, prompting the National Assembly to threaten to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2022. Contact him via email @ [email protected].