Dapchi, Chibok schoolgirls: FG puts teachers, students on alert

THE Federal Government has pledged to beef up security around the schools particularly in the North Eastern part of the country following growing number of attacks and abduction of schoolgirls.

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Sonny Echono, spoke in Abuja on Wednesday at a One-Day Enlightenment Meeting on Education in Emergency Preparedness and Response for Civic Education Teachers in Federal Government Colleges.

He recounted the sad incident of abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok and the recent 110 schoolgirls abducted from Dapchi by Boko Haram insurgents.

He said this negative trend was an affront to the right of education in the country that must be checked.

Echono said there was a need to prepare staff and students for the unexpected in any case of emergencies.

He added that preparing for the unexpected in the case of emergencies required planning ahead as well as creating awareness through the enlightenment programme.

He said that the growth rate of insecurity in the country was heightened by the overwhelming students’ population in the colleges and complicated by the absence of well-constructed perimeter fencing.

Echino said it was therefore imperative to education staff and students of the federal government colleges on the need to take precautions in the case of emergencies.

“Over the years and up till now, Nigeria has witnessed the myriad of emergencies as a nation and in some cases sectorally.

” Intermittent disasters have taken a toll on our colleges. Some of the emergency situations include over flooding, fire disasters, virus epidemics, the breakdown of law and order.”

Echono said the recent virus epidemics at the Queens’ College, Lagos claimed the lives of three students which was as a result of inadequate management of the situation.

Earlier, Mrs Justina Ibe, Director, Education Support Services in the ministry said the inadequate security measures in schools had increased vulnerability of emergencies.

Ibe, however, said the workshop was apt as it would afford an opportunity for stakeholders to take conscious steps to prevent disasters from happening.