By Ayo Oyoze Baje
Quote:
“Securing Nigeria’s future begins with the protection of classrooms. The Schools Protection Squad ( SPS) is fully on ground”
– Olukayode Egbetokun ( Former Inspector General of Police )Precisely on April 29, 2015 when yours truly delivered a lecture on School Safety on the invitation of Gate of Knowledge Services, as led by Pastor John Ajowale, renowned educationist and author, the warning was given. That was to the teachers, school proprietors and students in attendance, that if care was not taken kidnapping of students and teachers in schools would escalate. Now, over a decade later it has happened.
The event which took place at the Multi-, purpose Hall, Ado-Odo, in Ota, Ogun state provided an opportunity for the stakeholders to cross pollinate ideas on the best way out of the twisted and thorny wood of swirling insecurity in Nigeria.The lecture based on one’s experience in the field of secondary school education for over two decades was delivered in view of the spate of the kidnapping and killing of defenceless Nigerian pupils/ students by terrorists.
You can therefore, understand why words such as ” terrifying, reprehensible and yet another preventable insecurity” came to mind soon after reading through the recent heady headline of the
b๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑing the ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ข๐๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ, and a father of two, Michael Oyedokun. His killing along with another teacher and an okada rider happened after being kidnapped
in Ahoro-Esiele, Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, A horrendous spectacle ,was it not?
Of course, it was!
My dear fellow Nigerians, the attacks have since triggered some flaming questions. What were the offences of those killed? What gave the heartless killers the audacity to wreak such havoc on innocent citizens? And what were they
aiming to achieve as well as what would they tell our Creator on the Judgement Day? Perhaps, they do not believe in the existence of our Maker or that of standing before Him someday to give account of what we have thought about, said and done.
It would be recalled, that
on that black Friday of May 15, 2026, gunmen suspected to be bandits unleashed coordinated attacks on three schools in the Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo state, southwest. The attackers targeted Baptist Nursery and Primary School (Yawota), Community Grammar School (Esiele), and L.A. Primary School The ruthless attacks occurred around 8 a.m. while school activities were just beginning to unfold for the day.
According to media reports the gunmen, wearing on camouflage uniforms and riding motorcycles, fired shots, creating panic before kidnapping students and teachers. At the end of the deadly attacks over 40 to 48 people, including pupils, with some as young as four years old as well as students, and teachers, were taken away.
Subsequently, the Oyo state Governor Seyi Makinde confirmed that 32 people, including 25 pupils and 7 teachers, were initially abducted. In terms of fatalities:
,an assistant headmaster identified as Mr. Adesiyan was reportedly killed during the raid, along with a motorcyclist.
Meanwhile, rescue operations involving security forces, including Amotekun operatives and local hunters, were deployed to the Old Oyo National Park area, where the suspects were believed to have gone.So far, police confirmed the arrest of six suspects
in connection with the attack, who are currently aiding with investigations.
Although the state government stated the it would not bow to pressure but is open to dialogue to ensure the safe release of the captives, there are still more questions than answers to be provided by the governments both at the state and federal levels. For instance, why were there no vital security information to have alerted both the police and soldiers about the recent onslaught, despite the humongous sums said to have been expended on security? Why are the governments more reactive than proactive; always ready to shed crocodile tears on the voiceless victims whose priceless lived they are supposed to have protected from every manner of harm?
Why are they grossly failing in their primary purpose of being sworn into power, going by Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 constitutional provisions ( as amended) which include guaranting our security and providing for our welfare? Why are the masterminds behind the wanton wasting of human life being treated with kid gloves, with some of them having the audacity to dictate to the government how they should be treated? And why can they not decipher the pattern of the terrorists beginning from the North East and swinging from there to the North West, North Central to the South East and currently South West? From Kwara to Kogi now down to Ondo, Ekiti and Oyo? Are they heading to the coastal city of Lagos or not?
Worse still, is that of the hideous attacks unleashed
on defenceless school children and their lowly motivated teachers!
Expectedly, the recent attacks have sparked an escalating wave of widespread fear and panic. leading to temporary closures of schools in the affected communities. Parents are taking their children away from the schools. With this happening in a country that.tops the global ranking of out-of-school children , with estimates ranging between 10.2 million and 18.3 million.calls for serious concern.
Also troubling is that since the rise of Boko Haram’s insurgency in 2009โand accelerating rapidly with mass school kidnappings beginning in 2014โmore than 1,600 Nigerian school children have been abducted. While the 2014 Chibok abduction was the initial, major incident, mass kidnappings of students in Northern Nigeria have become a recurring ugly decimal of security crisis, with over 1,400 students taken in the decade following 2014. In fact, back on November 23 2025 Nigeria recorded the highest school abduction.According to the Christian Association of Nigeria some 303 students and 12 teachers were taken from St Mary’s School in Papiri, Niger state – substantially more than previously estimated.
According to the Oyo state police, six suspects, who are currently in police custody and assisting security agencies in ongoing investigations into the incident.
The conversations reportedly contained information on routes within the National Park and locations used as hideouts by the criminals.So, what is the way forward?
The Safe School Initiative should be practised more than preached. For instance, it has transfered students from high risk areas in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states to safe schools in other parts of the country. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has contributed 2 million EURO towards this component.
The first step is to ensure that a holistic approach involving proprietors, parents teachers association, the students, the communities and security forces is taken.
Solutions to student kidnapping in Nigeria should also focus on strengthening security through technology and intelligence informative gathering and acting on them.Enhancing school safety should include tackling poverty, and implementing stricter legal penalties.
The key measures include deploying anti-kidnapping squads,such as the SPS, using NIN/SIM monitoring for tracking, securing borders to curb arms proliferation, and fostering community policing.
