While Politicians Scheme, Students and Teachers Bleed: When Will Safety Beat Politics?

 

The Kidnapping Epidemic: Students and Teachers Are Now Targets. A Government That Cares Would Act Like It Does During Elections.

While politicians are busy scheming to remain in power and engaging in their usual political games, schoolchildren and their teachers are languishing in captivity. Tragically, one teacher has already been beheaded. Leadership is about responsibility, compassion, and humanity not an endless struggle for power and political dominance. The safety and welfare of citizens should always come before political ambition.

That is not rhetoric. That is the reality in far too many communities today.

From SS3 Exam Halls to Kidnappers’ Forests

Years ago, we fought against "special centers" that exploited students by helping them obtain fake examination results. Today, the traffickers have new faces—and guns. The target remains the same: students. The difference is that before, they stole your results. Now, they steal your life.

The pattern is now painfully familiar:

1. Students: JSS3, SS2, and 100-level students are being kidnapped on their way to school, during examinations, or from their hostels. Ransom demands of ₦50 million, ₦100 million, or even more are made. Parents sell land and valuables to secure their children's freedom. Some students never return.

2. Teachers: The protectors have now become prey. Teachers are kidnapped from staff quarters, abducted on their way to school, or executed to send "messages." When a teacher is beheaded, it is not just one life lost. It is hundreds of students losing mentorship, hope, and a sense of security in one tragic moment.

3. School Closures: The final casualty is education itself. Rural schools are shutting down. "No teacher will come." "Parents are afraid." An entire generation of children is being pushed out of classrooms and into idleness, farms, or even crime.

The Government's "I Don't Care" Energy vs. Election Energy

This is what breaks public trust. Watch how quickly systems move during election season:

Election Season	Kidnapping Season
Security forces deployed within 24 hours	"We're investigating" for six months
Politicians visit every village and hold daily town hall meetings	Victims' families struggle to get a press conference
Budgets approved, helicopters deployed, drones activated, intelligence coordinated	Schools are told to ask PTAs to fund security
"Your vote is your power" is everywhere	"We don't negotiate with terrorists" yet little changes

If government pursued kidnappers with the same zeal, funding, intelligence, and urgency it deploys during elections, we would already be seeing better results. Schools would be safe zones, not war zones. Teachers would teach, not hide.

Five Consequences If This Continues

1. A Lost Generation
Children who spend years in captivity or remain out of school due to fear do not simply "catch up." Many drop out permanently. These are future doctors, engineers, teachers, and innovators being lost.

2. Collapse of Rural Education
No teachers means no schools. No schools mean illiteracy, poverty, and a vicious cycle of underdevelopment. Terrorism wins without firing another shot.

3. Accelerated Brain Drain
Parents with the means to do so will relocate their children abroad or to safer states. Public schools become schools only for those who have no alternatives.

4. Teachers Leaving the Profession
Who wants to risk death for a salary that barely covers basic needs? The best teachers will resign, retire early, or relocate. Who will teach our children in 2030?

5. The Normalization of Fear
When students grow up expecting kidnapping as part of daily life, they stop dreaming big. "Why study hard if kidnappers can take me tomorrow?" That is how a nation slowly dies.

CampusDialog Position: Three Non-Negotiables

1. Safety First, Politics Later
Declare schools and teachers as Critical National Assets. Just as INEC materials receive extensive protection during elections, school buses, hostels, and staff quarters should receive round-the-clock security. Budget for it. Fund it. Audit it.

2. Intelligence Over Rhetoric
Kidnappers use phones, bank accounts, and informant networks. Government deploys drones, cyber-tracking, and coordinated intelligence during elections. Apply the same tools to trace ransom payments, dismantle criminal networks, and locate forest camps. Kidnapping is organized crime, not merely the work of "unknown gunmen."

3. Compassion Over Power Games
A leader who can publicly mourn a political ally should show the same empathy for a murdered teacher. Visit hospitals. Meet grieving families. Suspend political distractions and confront this crisis with the seriousness of a nation at war—because that is exactly what it is.

To Parents, Students, and Teachers Reading This

We see your fear. It is valid. But fear cannot be our final answer.

Students: Move in groups whenever possible. Share your location with trusted family members. Know emergency numbers, including Police Emergency Line (112). Your safety is more important than punctuality.

Teachers: Document threats. Demand improved security measures, hazard allowances, and safer housing arrangements from government authorities and school management. You are not expendable.

Parents and Communities: Organize community vigilance groups and school security committees. Hold leaders accountable at town hall meetings. Ask one simple question: "What is the plan for our schools?" Elections come every four years. Your child's safety matters every single day.

CampusDialog Viewpoint

Power without responsibility is bullying.

Leadership without compassion is merely management.

Until the day government pursues kidnappers with the same determination it pursues votes, we will continue writing case files with blood instead of ink.

Nigeria cannot claim to have a future if its classrooms are empty and its teachers are in graves.

CampusDialog Question

If you are a student, teacher, or parent in an affected area, what is one thing government could do this month that would make you feel safer?

Share your thoughts in the comments. We will compile the responses and forward them to relevant authorities.

Your voice matters.

#SecureOurSchools #TeachersAreNotExpendable #StudentsAreNotCurrency

Ambrose Odiase, FIPMA, MANUPA, MAUA (UK)
Founding Editor/Publisher
CampusDialog.blogspot.com