Gripping Fear Of Insecurity In Universities In Northern Nigeria -By Usman Yakubu Usman

Most students studying in Northern Nigeria Universities are living in outrageous fear. Fear emanates from the recent attacks of terrorists in some of the institutions across the region. It has become a disconcerting reality threatening to halt national development.

The high citadel of learning is only known in the tradition of Western education for breeding professional individuals to contribute their quotas with their skills and expertise obtained from their various fields of disciplines.

However, the last 10 years to date have been a nightmare for the students. Too many attacks result in suffering and untimely death. Every year comes with a heavy cloud of sad, discomfited story of terrorist attack. The miasma of the rampage has been sending an ominous shock to the rest of the students on different campuses.

Undergraduate students are no longer interested in pursuing their postgraduate degrees. Most of them were eager to leave the University alive.

Between 2020 to 2023 several attacks occurred due to hackney reasons. On 26 April 2021, Aljazeera reported the abduction of some Northwest Greenfield University students in Kaduna. Two of the students were killed by the gunmen. Their pursuit of education has become the famished road to their graves. Nobody heard from them again.

There was also a double security breach at the Federal University of Gusau which stands out as a worry to both the students of the University and their neighbouring institutions. Those at the University of Birnin Kebbi and Usmanu Danfoodiyo University live every day in dreadful fright. They know it is close, close to where they are.

These sad incidents have stretched wider. Recently, both Nasarawa State University Keffi and Federal University Dustin-Ma received their share of the collateral damage when the terrorist attack gave the students sleepless nights. In Keffi, four were abducted on 11th October 2023, while five female students were napped in Dustin-Ma during the hours of Wednesday 4th October 2023.

As the number of kidnapped students in Universities keeps increasing every month, the Punch Newspaper reported that no fewer than 34 students were kidnapped in five incidents, between September 22nd and October 15th, 2023. This to the very end, will not just bring education to its knees but turn the entire country into a dystopian nation where human beings live without law and order.

No serious country will let its Universities be a target for criminal forces. It will fight back and wage a war against the terrorists. This will happen from the beginning not when it’s too late. From the top level to the last, everyone will show concern to bring down the enemies of education.

For years, history has been kind enough to let our leaders remember their past days in classrooms when many of them attended classes with peace and zero remorse. Some of them had no fear of bandits or kidnappers during their early days at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and University College Ibadan.

They learnt in peace and harmony, crowning their glories with better positions of government. It’s time to offer the same to the current students to grant them the opportunities to learn in a serene environment.

It’s believed that students find it easy to thrive in a conducive learning environment devoid of any form of intimidation or uncontrollable challenges. However, the score of attacks has defeated such a claim in every sense of the word.

In a rational assumption, if a man can still brief and identify his challenges unless he is passive or dismissive, he will dive for solutions.

The repercussions of the distraction of the academic environment by the gunmen are likely to throw the greatest anomalies in the country. In no time, many students will be discouraged to continue going to school. They will give up and become idle in their communities. Their wandering will push them to become easy recruits to the criminal forces that deny them peace in school.

As one of the beneficiaries of Western education, Nelson Mandela once revealed that “Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world”. The potency of his statement lies in what more can we use to change our country if criminal forces keep terrorising the universities in the nation.

For this, if thousands of students in tertiary institutions limit their time of study at night for fear of insecurity, what time will they use to open their books and assimilate?

To curb the fear of insecurity in the universities, the government ought to focus on proper fencing, high fencing rounding the schools with security personnel in strategic locations and ensuring everywhere is lit, just as it is in Eagle Square, Abuja.

Usman Yakubu Usman is a 300-level student of English and Literary Studies from Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS). He can be reached via email and contact: usmanyakubuusman15@gmail.com. 07038909515.