The abduction of about 317 students of the Government Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara State, has been described as embarrassing and unacceptable by the Northern Governors Forum, even as it vows “enough is enough”.
The chairman of the forum, Simon Lalong, who is also the governor of Plateau State, stated this in a statement in Jos on Friday.
According to Lalong, strong measures must be taken to put an end to the trend before it escalated into a monster that would consume educational pursuit and national aspirations.
The Plateau State governor further added that the development, which is coming on the heels of the abduction of school children in Kagara, Niger State, called for serious concern among all Nigerians.
“As Northern Governors, we are deeply saddened by this embarrassing and unfortunate attack on our children who are in schools to seek knowledge and build capacity to impact the nation and create a better society. The assault on schools where innocent and harmless students are targeted should not be condoned in any way because it has the tendency to set the nation back to ignorance and more poverty. The Northern part of the country in particular is more educationally disadvantaged and cannot afford to have these disruptions. Enough is enough”, Lalong said.
According to the statement, the Northern Governors urged security agencies to use every asset at their disposal to rescue the children and bring to justice those behind the act, adding that they also want Nigerians to support the security agencies and government with credible information that will lead to a swift resolution of the situation.
Sympathising with the families of the abducted school children, the people and the Government of Zamfara State, the governors assured them of the support of the Forum in tackling the problem
