The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticised the decision by Nigerian and several state governments to close schools in response to rising cases of kidnapping, warning that the move risks advancing the objectives of terrorists.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, argued that shutting down schools amounts to conceding victory to criminal elements. “If the schools are closed, the goal of the terrorists would have been inadvertently achieved,” he said.
Ememobong urged the government to adopt a comprehensive and intelligence-driven approach to tackling insecurity, rather than what he described as a “simplistic” strategy aimed at preventing further kidnappings or scoring political points.
He called for full funding and implementation of the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools, which relies on community-based intelligence and rapid response mechanisms to prevent attacks.
He warned that closing schools amid worsening insecurity risks deepening Nigeria’s educational crisis, particularly in the North.
Citing UNICEF figures, he said the region already accounts for the majority of the country’s 18.3 million out-of-school children, 10.2 million at the primary level and 8.1 million at secondary level.
The PDP spokesman added that the series of attacks and abductions recorded in multiple states in recent days reflects “the alarming insecurity that has become the contemporary lived experience and new reality of Nigerians under the APC-led Bola Tinubu government.”