The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has threatened to shut down federal institutions in the country including the National Assembly and engage in other forms of picketing if no action is taken to address the insecurity situation in the country, especially the continuous attacks, kidnapping of students and killings in different parts of the country.
The Senate President of the association, Comrade Chuks Okafor who made the revelation at a World Press Conference held at the Godwin Ezeemo International Press Centre, Awka, said taking the action will pose untold difficulties for the country if the government shows inability to check the activities of these kidnappers and bandits.
On April 20, 2021, twenty-two (22) students and the matron of the female hostel of Greenfield University were abducted from the university’s premises at Kasarami Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Five (5) of the students so far has been killed with a threat that the remaining seventeen (17) will be killed today if the demands of the kidnappers including a N100 million ransome is not met.
This came barely a month after thirty-nine (39) students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna State were also kidnapped; while other violent attacks on students and cult wars have been reported in different higher institutions across the country.
Addressing the press on the increased in the kidnapping of students, the NANS Senate President, Comrade Okafor bemoaned that the country is quickly becoming a stateless society and appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to step up his security strategies and rescue Nigerians especially students from chips of negotiations by the enemy.
He called on Federal and State Governments and different leaderships of the country irrespective of political parties or affiliations “to commence immediate proactive and pragmatic actions towards… restoring the confidence of students in campuses and salvaging the deteoriating security situation in Nigeria.”