The Bauchi state Peace Corps has called on the Federal Government to deploy more military personnel in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions across the North- East region of the country, to avert another re occurrence of abduction of students by insurgents.
The state Commandant, Mr. Patriot Maxwell, who made the call yesterday, during an interview with newsmen at the command headquarters in Bauchi, lamented how activities of terrorists were now penetrating into institutions of learning.
He particularly condemned the abduction of over 100 girls at Chibok Secondary school in Borno state, saying that the situation could have been averted if military personnel were posted to the school to monitor the situation in the school before the attack.
“I know it is late to start trading blames on ourselves, but I think this is a national tragedy and a lesson for the Federal Government to learn from, so that we do not have another re-occurrence of such an attack. What I expected from the Federal Government is that it should have deployed military personnel in all the schools in Borno state to keep twenty four hour’s surveillance, knowing that students are now targets of Boko Haram attacks”.
“The most pathetic thing is that the abducted students are girls, and due to their fragile nature they cannot defend themselves. These girls are potential mothers; but with the situation on ground, that part of their future has been marred by terrorists.
Mr. Maxwell blamed the school authorities at Chibok Secondary School for refusing to relocate the students to other neighbouring states to write their WAEC examination when other schools in Borno were relocating there students.
He said that Peace Corps in Bauchi state have deployed 670 of its officers to secondary school schools across the state to beef up security, adding that the measure became necessary following the spate of attacks on public schools.
“If you observe carefully, there can be no successful attack on a school without an insider who supplies the attackers with relevant information. So, our officers are posted to these secondary schools to monitor the activities of the students. We want to know who the students are interacting with and where they go to”.
He urged the Federal Government to create more employment opportunities for youths to reduce the spate of bomb attacks in the country, stressing that most of the youths are enticed to engage in criminal activities because they have nothing to do.
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