…All boarding schools shut, students relocated to safer areas
…Rural schools abandoned by teachers, students, parents for fear of terrorists
FOR people in Sokoto, the Caliphate in Nigeria, the ferocity and frequency of attacks by terrorists and bandits are virtually becoming unbearable.
Seizures and destruction of communities, and killing of innocent men, women and children have become a daily routine.
Before now, it used to be as peaceful as a tourist’s city and was noted as a centre of knowledge linked to the legendary education pursuit of Sheikh Usmanu Fodiyo in 1804. And, buoyed by the academic excellence for which Sokoto is known, successive administrations have tried to uplift the standard of education with numerous programmes and policies that have kept the state on top despite its civil service outlook.
Former governor, Attahiru Bafarawa came up with “Operation Resuscitate Education”, Aliyu Wamakko came with the “The Schools Drop in Programme” while the current Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has declared a state of emergency on education as a strategy to enable him to invest more and provide more opportunities for the people to access education. As a demonstration of his seriousness, Tambuwal has sunk billions of naira into the construction and equipping of all categories of schools in the state and encouraging the people to go to school free of charge.
He has even made history by constructing the multi-billion naira state-of-the-art secondary school in Gudu Town, the headquarters of Gudu Local Government Area of the state but the monumental structure is yet to be used by students and teachers, more than six years after it was completed but has been overtaken by terrorists who invaded the area after arriving from Mali. They were reportedly ‘invited’ by some unnamed Fulani leaders to assist them dislodge rampaging bandits who were rustling cattle and killing herders. Unfortunately, after dislodging the bandits, the ISWAP fighters refused to leave the area and defiantly installed their their authority on the people of the area including the introduction of Sharia law and collection of taxes from the locals. Emboldened by their ‘incursion’ into Sokoto, in 2019, ISWAP fighters in retaliation over attack by Nigerian security operatives,murdered the only district head of the area known as the Magajin Garin Balle and kidnapped a former member of the Sokoto State House of Assembly, Mr. Sani Yakubu, who was later released after ransom was paid by his family.
As a result of the invasion of the LGA by terrorists, Gudu has remained as the only local government in the country without a functioning secondary school in the state, a despicable history, which Governor Tambuwal sought to erase as soon as he assumed office as governor. The magnificent school is currently under lock and key due to wanton activities of terrorists in the area while the state government is confused as to what next to do with the gigantic structure completed with huge taxpayers money.
A similar school was built by the former Governor of the state, Attahiru Bafarawa, in his home village Bafarawa Usa LGA where his father was the village head. After building the science and technical college, the escalating operations of bandits and other criminal gangs forced students and parents to shun the school, which has remained abandoned and a ghost structure without students and teachers for many years running. It was named after former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who also inaugurated the special technical school in Bafarawa Usa. Early in 2020, the Sokoto State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education pronounced the discontinuation of all secondary schools in the border areas of the state due to increased attacks by bandits in the rural areas.
Bafarawa is the only area in Sokoto State where gun-toting bandits are seen in broad daylight with their weapons mingling with law-abiding people in the village. To make matters worse, bandits and kidnappers in the village wield great authority in the village by taking decisions on what they think is suitable for them and people in the village.
During the 2019 general elections, the Independent Electoral Commission could not conduct election in the area as bandits requested for payment of pass to the area before they allowed the election to go ahead. The two political parties- the APC and PDP- made payments to the bandits through one Musa, who was their mediator and an informer now said to be in the hands of the security, after being picked up in the middle of 2020.
Governor Tambuwal has justified the decision to turn all boarding schools in the state to day schools in order to safeguard the lives of students and allay the fears of parents over the safety of their wards.
Last week when schools in the state were closed for holidays, students heading to eastern parts of the state and some far local areas such as Luka Isa and Sabin Birni were escorted by heavily armed military and police personnel in armoured vehicles.
A visit to Sokoto metropolis will attest to the growing tension in the state as more than 50 percent of all businessmen residing in the rural areas of the state have now relocated to the state capital for fear of being attacked or kidnapped by bandits and their informants.
Children of school ages who could not afford Western education in the rural areas due to activities of bandits are now sent by their parents and guardians to the state capital to continue with the Almajiri system of education.
