By Ken Afor
In response to the rising number of university students being kidnapped across the nation, the Senate decided on Thursday to call a meeting of all the security chiefs.
This came about as a result of a motion made by Senator Abdulaziz Musa Yar’Adua (Katsina Central) during plenary, who called his colleagues’ attention to the early-morning Wednesday kidnapping of five female students from the Federal University in Dutsinma (FUDMA), Katsina.
After breaking into three hostels at the Federal University of Gusau in Zamfara State and kidnapping 24 students in large numbers, bandits carried out the attack 12 days later.
Three days later, during a security agency-led rescue effort, sixteen of them were successfully released.
On their way to camp in Zamfara State on Monday, August 21, 2023, eight members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, were also abducted.
The university and academic communities are in a panic, according to Senator Yar’Adua, as a result of these kidnap incidents.
The politician expressed worry that kidnappings for ransom have almost become a daily and weekly occurrence in important towns and communities in the North West geopolitical zone.
Concerned by the rising number of student abductions, the Senate decided to set a date for the security chiefs to address the lawmakers about the problem and efforts to stop it.
Additionally, it urged Nigeria’s various security organizations to take more initiative and see to it that all of the kidnapped students are immediately released.
The military and other security agencies were requested by the Red Chamber to launch a special operation to chase away the bandits in the Northwest zone.
It instructed the Nigeria Police to make sure that the school protection squad clearly demonstrates its dedication to safeguarding schoolchildren and to create a secure setting where students and teachers can engage in teaching and learning without worrying about being attacked or abducted.
