CHIGOZIE AMADI
Former Senator, Shehu Sani, has stated that the security challenges facing northern Nigeria were worse under ex-President Muhammadu Buhari than under the present administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Senator Sani stated this yesterday while speaking at the 40th anniversary and reunion of the’84’ set of Kagara Old Boys Association, an association of old students of Government Science College, Kagara, Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State.
The event was held at Ahmadu Bahago Secondary School in Minna, the state capital.
Sani, who said the meeting was to allow the old boys to share memories and brainstorm on how to see the reopening of the school, said security challenges would be completely addressed if the government shows the desired commitment.
GSS Kagara has been shut down since the invasion of the school by bandits in 2021. Some students were abducted during the incident.
“The security challenges would be over in the whole country because what we have now is better than the one we had during the Buhari administration. There is every evidence that many of the top terrorists have been eliminated by our security forces. And if you compare what we are having today to what we had yesterday, it is still the best.
“Under Buhari’s administration, we had a series of attacks on schools, including attacks on Green Field University, Kaduna; Bathel Baptist School, Kaduna; Government Science College, Kagara; Federal Government Girls’ College, Yauri; Federal School of Agricultural Mechanisation, Mando; Government Secondary School, Kankara; Government Secondary School, Jangibe, all under Buhari’s administration. So, we are hopeful that things will be better,” he said.
Sani said while he supported the temporary relocation of Government Science College, Kagara, as suggested by the Niger State Government, he insisted that the school should be moved back to Kagara as soon as the security situation in the area improves.
“It is unfortunate that the schools that produced some of the best hands in the history of this country are today the ruins of what they used to be. We must tell ourselves the fundamental truth that as long as we don’t provide education for our young ones, we will be creating a force that we will not be able to contain in future.
“Northern Nigeria must take education seriously; we lag in education; we have the highest number of out-of-school children today. The activities of bandits and terrorists have destroyed the educational fabric and basis of northern Nigeria.
“The school we used to call our own has been deserted because bandits have once attacked the school and taken hostage of students and some teachers,” he said.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Association, Ja’afar Tukur, a Deputy Controller of Customs, represented by the Treasurer of the ’84’ set of the association, Dr. Philip Audu Ibrahim, said the old students were not happy with the deplorable state of the College and called on the federal and state governments to jointly address banditry and insurgency.
“No sane person will be happy with the current state of Government Science College, Kagara. It’s an issue of insurgency. You know that Kagara forms the boundary between Kaduna, and Katsina and it is the route through which bandits come into Niger State. And we are not happy with the condition of that school.
“For the past 10 years, we have been responsible for the infrastructure of that school, a group of old boys but what is happening in Kagara today is beyond us as old students. The state and federal governments should take decisive action to address the issue of banditry and insurgency in that location,” he said.
Government Science College, Kagara has been shut and converted to a military camp since 2021 following the attack and kidnapping of students and teachers by bandits the same year.
