The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticised the recent decision by the Federal Government and some state governments to shut schools over rising kidnappings, warning that the move could inadvertently help terrorists achieve their aims.
At a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, said closing schools was a counterproductive response to insecurity.
“If the schools are closed, the goal of the terrorists would have been inadvertently achieved,” he said.
Ememobong urged the Federal Government to adopt a comprehensive security strategy rather than what he called a “simplistic approach” designed to “score cheap political points.”
He said authorities must fully fund and implement the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools, which relies on community intelligence and rapid response mechanisms to prevent attacks.
According to him, securing schools has become urgent because persistent insecurity is already discouraging education, especially in Northern Nigeria. He noted that UNICEF data shows the region accounts for most of Nigeria’s 18.3 million out-of-school children—10.2 million in primary school and 8.1 million in secondary school.
“This data paints a grim picture and mirrors the exact situation in Nigeria today,” he said. “The series of attacks and kidnappings within one week shows the alarming level of insecurity that has become the new reality under the APC-led Bola Tinubu government.”
He also faulted what he described as the federal authorities’ inadequate and unempathetic response to recent abductions.
“For example, instead of the President visiting Kebbi and Niger States to meet parents of the abducted children and address security personnel, he merely directed the Minister of State for Defence to relocate to Kebbi,” he said.
Ememobong added that the size of Nigeria’s delegations to the US Congress and the G-20 meetings, compared with what he called the “lone envoy” sent to handle the security crisis, reflected the Presidency’s poor prioritisation of the issue.
Reiterating the PDP’s stance, he reminded the Federal Government that protecting lives and property is its foremost constitutional duty.
“At any time a government is unwilling, unable, or incapable of executing this primary role, such a government must either ask for help—locally or internationally—or honourably resign, if it is sincere and responsible,” he said.
