A member of the House of Representatives, Bamidele Salam, has said many Nigerian leaders are disconnected from the country’s worsening insecurity because their children attend private schools or study abroad, unlike the children of ordinary citizens who depend on public schools.
Speaking during plenary on Wednesday, Salam stressed the urgent need for government intervention to secure schools across the country and protect vulnerable pupils and teachers from growing security threats.
Using a Yoruba proverb to illustrate his point, the lawmaker said:
“There is a saying among the Yoruba people that if a lion comes into a village and kills the children of the poor, there may be no noise, there may be no mourning but when the day the lion comes into the village and kills a child of the king, the whole city is turned into a graveyard.”
According to him, many public office holders do not directly experience the dangers confronting ordinary Nigerians because their children are often enrolled in private institutions, with some studying outside the country.
“For reasons we all know most of the children of those of us who are in leadership position today attend private schools. Some of them outside of the Republic of Nigeria because we can afford it. But the children of the poor, labourers, teachers, the children of carriers of wood attend public schools and we cannot afford to close our eyes to the realities of the dangers that their children and the teachers face today in Nigeria,” he said.
Salam called for the establishment of a specialised security structure dedicated to safeguarding schools nationwide.
“And I want to suggest that part of the resolution of this motion should be the need for the federal government of Nigeria to create a special force, a special security architecture specifically designed for the school system,” Salam stated.
The lawmaker noted that countries facing similar challenges have developed targeted security measures to protect educational institutions, adding that Nigeria once operated a school security framework under the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, but the initiative suffered from inadequate funding.
“There was a time that the Nigeria Civil Defence organisation had a school security system and I am saying it on good authority that it was never funded for the period of its existence,” he said.
He urged the Federal Government to treat the issue as a national emergency, insisting that protecting schools is achievable if adequate resources and commitment are deployed.
“I think that it is high time that we look at this problem in a very urgent manner and provide adequate security for all schools. I disagree with those who say we cannot protect all schools.”
“If we can protect the thousands of public office holders in Nigeria, we can protect the children of the poor who attend public schools, teachers.”
Reacting to the recent school abduction incident in Oyo State, Salam called for a more proactive government response to reassure citizens and provide support to affected victims.
“And on the incident that happened in Oyo state, the government needs to be more proactive, more reassuring in a manner that would not allow the problem to foster more and provide comfort to the victims of these attacks.”
