Osun Holds Emergency Security Meeting as Fear Grips Border Schools

(Osun State Map. Photo by Vanguard News)

Due to growing security risks in several areas of the state, the Osun State government called an emergency meeting yesterday.

The development comes as the state’s Nigerian Union of Teachers, or NUT, repeated its demands for increased security in schools situated in isolated and bordering villages that border neighboring states.

It also came after the large-scale protests about the predicament of the kidnapped victims that took place in Ogbomoso and Ibadan earlier yesterday.

Babalola Babatunde, the chairman of the NUT in Osun State, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, that Dipo Eluwole, the Commissioner for Education, scheduled the meeting yesterday following discussions with the union.

He claimed that it was now essential to send more security guards to schools in isolated locations in order to stop attacks and kidnappings by bandits.

“Schools near forests and border communities are often far from urban centers, making them vulnerable targets for bandits and kidnappers,” stated Babatunde. It shouldn’t be illegal to be a teacher.

He said that the union has asked for additional security personnel to be sent to schools in border villages, including members of the Department of State Services (DSS), the police, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

In order to demand the unconditional release of the Ogbomoso kids and teachers kidnapped on May 15, he said, union members were also scheduled to take part in a statewide sympathy rally organized by the national NUT leadership.