The House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to maintain constant collaboration with the Niger State Government to secure the immediate release of the 136 students abducted from Islamic School in Tegina, Rafi Local Government Area of the state.

The House also called on the National Security Adviser (NSA), Service Chiefs, Inspector General of Police and other security agencies to re-jig security architecture with a view to putting in place effective strategies and counter-measures to curb escalating insecurity across Niger State.

The resolution of the House followed the adoption of a motion moved at the plenary yesterday by Hon. Saidu Abdullahi.

Moving the motion, Abdulahi said for the past few months, Niger State has been making critical headlines in the news due to the worsening activities of bandits, kidnappers and Boko Haram elements in the state.

He recalled that there was a mass abduction of about 136 children from Mallam Salihu Tanko Islamic School in Tegina recently.

The lawmaker lamented that two weeks after the abduction, the children are still in captivity.

Abdulahi decried that the bandits have been gruesomely torturing and killing innocent lives; destroying critical infrastructure and property; carting away food stuffs, rustling cattle and other domestic animals, and instilling fear in the minds of people across the state and country.

The lawmaker said the huge investments of this administration in the agriculture sector across the state have been practically frustrated, as the farmers can no longer cultivate their farms as a direct result of the fear of being attacked.

Abdulahi stressed that the aftermath is the aggravation of food insecurity and threats to the peaceful co-existence and socio-economic stability of the country.

He added that recently, a prince from Kontagora Emirate and others were killed, while about five people were abducted from Batati in Lavun LGA in the state.

He lamented that the military camps in Allawa, Bassa and Zagzaga in the two LGA were overrun by the insurgents in their renewed attacks recently.

The lawmaker expressed concern that the bandits now strike mostly in the daytime and operate without any challenge from the security agents.

However, the House urged:

The National Security Adviser, Service Chiefs, Inspector General of Police and other security agents to re-jig the security architecture in the country with a view of putting in place effective strategies and counter-measures to curb escalating insecurity in Niger State and Nigeria.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.