Gunmen and varsity students

The authorities must do more to safeguard schools.

The recent abduction of six students from Nasarawa State University has revived concerns about the safety of educational environments, particularly in northern Nigeria. According to reports, the students were taken in Keffi after armed men forced their way into an off‑campus lodge in Gudi, Akwanga Local Government Area. All six victims are enrolled in the Faculty of Engineering at the university’s Gudi Campus, and a seventh person, who was visiting one of the students at the time, was also taken.

Incidents similar to this have occurred at other higher‑education institutions: students were seized from their residential area at the Federal University of Lafia in Nasarawa State; gunmen captured seven students from a private hostel at the University of Jos (UNIJOS); and staff quarters at the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) were attacked, resulting in the kidnapping of lecturers and their family members. At the secondary‑school level, killings, abductions of staff and pupils, and the deliberate destruction of school infrastructure have already had a detrimental impact on education.

While criminal gangs have frequently targeted secondary schools in recent years, the extension of such attacks to tertiary institutions should alarm the authorities. Manuel Fotaine, Special Adviser on Child Rights in the office of the UNICEF Executive Director, has repeatedly warned that when schools are repeatedly assaulted and students become targets, “not only are their lives shattered, but the future of the nation is also stolen.” That assessment reflects the current situation in Nigeria.

The wave of violence began with the brutal assault on Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State, on 25 February 2014. The attack was intended to instill terror among children and teachers and to discourage parents from sending their children to school. That night, 51 students were murdered. Subsequent attacks on schools spread across many states, with thousands of boys and girls abducted—particularly at the height of the conflict. Many of the abducted boys were forced to become suicide bombers, while girls suffered various forms of violence, including forced “marriages.”

In 2018, criminal gangs abducted 108 schoolgirls from Dapchi; most were later released after a controversial deal that left one girl, Leah Sharibu, behind reportedly because of her faith. In 2019, gunmen killed three people at the College of Agriculture and Animal Science in Bakura, Zamfara State, and kidnapped 15 students and four staff members. In December 2020, bandits on motorbikes attacked Government Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State, stealing about 300 students. A few weeks later, they also seized pupils and a teacher from an Islamic seminary after school in the same state. In February 2021, armed men killed a school pupil and abducted 27 others from a school in Kagara, Niger State.

The ongoing violence has spurred efforts to protect students and teachers from physical threats. The Safe Schools Initiative, launched in 2014 after the Chibok kidnapping, was designed to counter the rising attacks on the right to education and to establish community security groups that create safe zones for learning. These groups comprise teachers, parents, police officers, and community leaders. Endorsed by the federal government in May 2015, the initiative, with support from national and international organisations, has introduced several measures to rebuild schools and enhance security on campuses.

Now that criminal gangs are targeting universities in the North, key stakeholders must develop workable solutions to address this growing challenge.