Security experts seek better protection for schools

Experts fear for more attacks on schools ahead of the one-year anniversary of the abduction of the Chibok school girls, FOLASHADE ADEBAYO writes Just a few days to the one-year anniversary of the abduction of more than 200 school girls by the Boko Haram insurgents, security experts have warned of likely attacks on more schools in the coming days.<--More--!> More than 200 female pupils of the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State were kidnapped in their hostels on April 14 last year. In separate interviews with our correspondent, a former Commandant, Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Gen. Williams Obene, and a security consultant, Dr. Ona Ekhomu, said schools remained a soft target for the insurgents despite the recent successes recorded by the military in dislodging them. According to Ekhomu, the new political dispensation and lack of security plans in many schools will also make them more vulnerable to attacks from the terrorists. “School security is taken for granted in this part of the world and terrorism will bring out new threats, particularly to the school population. Attacks on schools have been part of their repertoire and you can see a pattern in Pakistan and recently in Kenya, where the Garissa University was attacked.

“Now that we are going to have a new president, they are going to become more emboldened because they know it will take some time for him to settle down. They are going to hit schools because they know it hurts and will give us a bad name in the international community,’’ he said. Ekhomu also faulted the Safe School Initiative of the Federal Government and some international partners, describing it as a ‘window dressing’ approach, which lacks depth. He urged the incoming president, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to conduct a holistic security assessment of the situation. He added, “Boko Haram does not respond to building schools and fitting them with closed circuit television. What kind of security assessment has been done? It is crucial to know the attacker, his motivation and possible methods.’’ “There must be security awareness among pupils and members of staff. Before the security personnel will get to you in a conflict zone, you have to defend yourself first; otherwise, you become a statistics when the security men arrive. There must also be pacification of reclaimed areas because you do not just chase out insurgents and ask the people to come back. It has to be confirmed and reconfirmed that the insurgents have truly been dislodged before the people can rebuild their lives.” Obene also said that without a policy framework, schools and other ‘critical infrastructure’ remains a likely target for attacks. “As a nation, we are not prepared for terrorism. We have yet to put the correct policy framework to protect our critical infrastructure, such as schools and markets. We have only been reacting and our strategy is disorganised. It is not a rocket science that the insurgents will attack this critical infrastructure. Terrorism is not going to go away. “It is very unfortunate and a shame to our nation and the international community that the Chibok girls have yet to be found. We are fighting a global war and the three approaches to fighting terrorism are disciplinary, multiagency and multinational. How much cooperation are we getting from the international community?’’ he asked. Obene also advised Buhari to focus on gathering intelligence, as many Nigerians will expect him to lead the fight against terrorism and bring back the girls as soon as possible.

“I pity the incoming government because the Chibok girls issue and insurgency is a big liability. Nigerians will expect that having a General in the saddle will help to recover the girls. But we need to have intelligence as where the girls are and be circumspect in the rescue operation,’’ he added. A coordinator of the #BringBackourGirls, in Abuja, Mrs. Aisha Yesufu, said it was hypocritical to advocate safe schools when the environment is not safe. She said it was shameful that the school girls had yet to be found one year after their disappearance. “How can you talk about safe schools in an unsafe environment? The entire North East is not safe. So many Internally Displaced Persons are out of school. There has been much abduction after the kidnapping of the Chibok girls. ‘It is our belief that the government did not make this matter a priority early enough. It took the Federal Government 15 days to accept that the girls were missing and what they have done since is to discredit and harass our members,’’ she said. A member of the Chibok community, Mr. Allen Manasseh, also holds this view, claimed that 23 of the abducted girls were his cousins. Speaking to our correspondent on Thursday, Manasseh berated the government for keeping parents and relatives in the dark about efforts so far taken to rescue the girls. According to him, the situation has forced the parents to rely on unsavoury and traumatic media reports and hearsays. Manasseh, who is also a member of the #BringBackourGirls, alleged that no fewer than 15 parents of the abducted girls were either killed by the Boko Haram insurgents or died of trauma. “Let me announce to you that one of the parents, Mallam Bama, was killed by the Boko Haram on Tuesday and his wife died of shock on Wednesday. We do not have any progress report. Nobody has met us and there is no counselling programme for the parents. “The narrative was that the military knew where the girls were and they would soon be rescued. Imagine the parents listening to the Chief of Army Staff, Kenneth Minimah, saying on television that the villagers of each town they recaptured from Boko Haram said they have not sighted the Chibok girls,’’ he lamented. Calling on Buhari to be decisive in dealing with the insurgents, Manasseh also debunked reports that the Chibok community was against the Safe School Initiative of the Federal Government. “Inasmuch as we maintain that the rescue of the girls be kept on the front burner, we are not rejecting the development or intervention from any government level. We are appealing to the President-elect to take the lead and launch a grand investigation into the whole affair. “He should endeavour to bring sponsors and members to book and let Nigerians know the brains behind the insurgency. We have strong hope that these girls are alive and will be rescued no matter how long it takes,’’ he added.

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