The former Vice President and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has reacted to the abduction of the Principal of Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina; a National Examinations Council, NECO, ad hoc official; and students who were writing their NECO examination in Kogi State.
In a statement on Wednesday by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said bandits have taken over the Nigerian education system.
He described the incident as further proof that the Nigerian state has abdicated its most fundamental responsibility, which is the protection of life, learning and the future of its children.
According to him, it is both tragic and disgraceful that in today’s Nigeria, children can no longer write public examinations without the terrifying prospect of being marched into the forest by armed criminals.
“An examination hall should be a sanctuary of hope, not a crime scene. A school principal should be preparing students for the future, not negotiating with kidnappers. A NECO official should be supervising examinations, not struggling for survival in the hands of bandits. Yet this has become the grim reality under a government that has normalised insecurity.”
“It is impossible to separate this attack from the attitude this administration has displayed towards education. A government that has repeatedly made education more expensive through unprecedented increases in WAEC and NECO examination fees, neglected public schools, failed to secure learning environments and reduced education to empty campaign slogans should not be surprised that criminals now see schools as abandoned territories,” he stated.
