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If there is anybody to speak on how Nigerian universities are no longer scared, it is Aliyu Shugaba, a professor and vice-chancellor, University of Maiduguri, Borno State, which is the flashpoint of Boko Haram insurgent attacks and epicenter of insecurity in Nigeria.
Painting a picture of the sad developments that have made the Ivory Tower less glamorous for ambitious lecturers, insecure for budding students and less fun for families on campus, Professor Shugaba says, the fact that some of the university facilities were destroyed by bombings and gunshots was devastating.
“Sometimes, when the bombs went off, the blasts affected the psychology of our students, making them live in fear. Some of the bombings took place late in the night or early in the morning and this affected the optimal output of the staff and students,” he says.
Despite the bombings and kidnappings of students and lecturers, especially along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway, the vice chancellor says, “At some point we made a resolve that we would live with it and continue to discharge our responsibility of teaching, research and community service.”
So also, other universities across the country resolved to keep on despite the growing insecurity, considering the fact that the government has done little or nothing to curb the attacks on universities, on education and on the future of the country.
Today, university campuses are no longer safe as kidnappers and gunmen have brazen up and are now invading campus to take hostage of lecturers and students unlike the former method of waiting for them outside the campus or on the highways close to the campuses.
The cases are rising on a daily basis and regrettably unabated. This year alone, over 50 lecturers and university students have been kidnapped by gunmen with at least three deaths across the country.
In May this year, the Taraba state police command confirmed the kidnapping of Umar Buba, a lecturer and head of the Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Agriculture in Taraba State University by some armed men. In the same May, there were a series of attacks on University of Jos that warranted the management to close all its students’ hostels over security threats to the school.
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In June this year, one Dan Ella, a lecturer in the Department of Theatre Art, University of Jos, was abducted amid a ransom of N10 million for his release.
In August, two lecturers at Abia State University, Uturu and others were robbed and kidnapped by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen along ABSU-Isuikwuato Road, though they were later released and one of the lecturers was said to have died from the beatings received from the kidnappers.
There was also a report of the kidnap of Professor John Alabi, dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences at Kogi State University, Ayingba, by unknown gunmen when the lecturer was about to enter his apartment.
Most recently, gunmen invaded University of Abuja staff quarters in Gwagwalada and abducted six persons including four professors. Reports have it that they have been rescued by security agents.
Although in many of the cases, most of the abducted lecturers, their family members and students have regained freedom, probably after ransom is paid, the spate of the attacks on Nigerian campuses is alarming.
Speaking on the issue, Anele Oguezi, an associate professor at Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ebonyi State, decried that no place is safe if gunmen can attack the Nigerian Defense Academy in Kaduna unchallenged.
“Government keeps saying Boko Haram is technically defeated, that bandits are being taken care of, yet these felons keep taking more hostages every day, making money from it and denying many the opportunity to go to school,” he decried.
Speaking further, the aggrieved lecturer, who has lost five students to foreign universities due to the growing insecurity in Ebonyi State, lamented that the government’s weakness in addressing the situation is giving the culprits energy to do more.
But Onyedi Ifeatu, a senior lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, thinks that the university community should secure itself as kidnapping has become a lucrative business jointly perpetrated by hoodlums and some unscrupulous security operatives.
“I will not be surprised that some students will be considering going into kidnapping after graduation because there is no job anywhere; kidnapping is paying good money and kidnappers seem to enjoy protection from some unscrupulous security agents,” Ifeatu said.
Speaking further, he said, “Imagine making N5 million from ransom in a month, then kidnapping more people and doubling that amount in two months, what business or job will pay you such an amount? Kidnapping is now lucrative and that is why it is thriving, with even security agents joining.”
Ali Nuhu, a father of a University of Jos student who was kidnapped and later released, decried that the government has failed in its security responsibility as families are left to bear the burden of paying ransom for the release of their kidnapped loved ones or bear the loss alone, in the case of death or declared missing for a long time.
Nuhu, a pharmacist, said the government can curb the security challenge if it wants to, but shying away because of certain interests, which is killing the country today. Our security is bigger than any person, religion or tribe. Deal with bandits, kidnapper and Boko Haram with full federal might and they will disappear. Government can, but it will not until we all die because their children are all overseas. It is a shame,” he said.
The pharmacist, who studied on scholarship, decried that already the number of out-of-schools is growing in Nigeria and the attacks on campuses would compound the situation, forcing more students, whose parents cannot send abroad, to be at home instead of being kidnapped or killed on campus by gunmen.
Apart from Boko Haram insurgency, increased attacks on local farmers, killings and kidnapping by suspected Fulani herdsmen marauding as bandits have become the order of the day.
These herdsmen have terrorised Nigerians, destroyed properties and communities, maimed, kidnapped for ransom, while leaving tails of anguish on the lips of many Nigerians.
A recent report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and European Union (EU) said no fewer than 2,295 teachers have lost their lives, while 1,400 schools have been destroyed in North-East Nigeria since 2009 as a result of insurgency.
Political leaders have blamed armed groups for carrying out the series of kidnapping for ransom and raids on schools and universities in Northern Nigeria in recent times.
Observers say that such an attack on a university in Abuja, the seat of power, was a glaring sign that Nigeria is unsafe for the masses and that the situation had worsened with no hope in sight.
Public affairs analyst, Kayode Kehinde, however, blamed government at all levels for not doing enough to address the situation, stressing that the unemployment rates, corruption among the leaders in the armed forces had contributed.
According to him, “I mean more emphasis has been put on the Northern regions of Nigeria, inter-state travels, and rising levels of insecurity in some other parts. But right again, abduction at the central capital territory and even in the University environment diminishes all hopes that some parts of the country are still safe.
“We cannot overemphasise how the insecurity issues in Nigeria keep deteriorating as the day goes by. And if you ask why; to get a better answer, we must also consider the major root causes of increasing crimes in societies.
“When governments do not fulfil their promises to the people, when we have increasing unemployment, corruption in the military, and including other forces who are supposed to be the protectors of the lives and property of people, but are now terrors, when we have groups of selfish leaders who know the right things to do but for their personal gains abandon them, etc, the result would always be an insecure society.”
Kehinde further advised the Federal Government to redouble its effort to check the spate of insecurity across Nigeria.
“Before the issue further degenerates, it is high time the government sat tight to its responsibilities. As I often say, the best definition of a failed state is one that fails to protect the lives and property of its people.
“We must act right to get positive results, and the government should stop solving problems from its surface lining but from its actual root,” Kehinde added.
A father of four who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said the incident at UNIABUJA had devastated him, making him to almost lose hope in Nigeria.
“In July this year, I was discussing with a group of people that Abuja remained the only place where students can now study peacefully. I had said that it would be difficult for the bandits terrorising Niger, Kaduna, Zamfara, and some other states, to venture into Abuja. In fact, I also said that parents should start encouraging their children to apply for admission in the private and public universities in Abuja for security reasons; but I have been proven wrong,” he said.
The retired federal director-general advised the government to do everything within its power to restore confidence in the citizens, saying “The primary role of every government is protection of lives and property. If bandits should take over the Federal Capital Territory, it signifies the failure of any government.”
