Do Everything To Rescue Abducted Katsina Students, IBP Charges FG

Incentive Based Program (IBP) of Policy House International has condemned the abduction of school children in Katsina State.

Gunmen, suspected to be bandits, had attacked the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara. The incident left at least 333 students missing as of Sunday afternoon according to the State Governor, Aminu Masari.

In a statement signed by Executive Director (Incentive Based Program), Abuja, Taiwo F. Akerele, on Monday, the program expressed sadness that the incident happened at a time it was working hard to encourage parents to return their kids to school in North-East Nigeria.

It further described the abductions as a “minus” in its quest to build confidence in the educational environment in the region.

The IBP of Policy House International, therefore, charged the Federal Government to do everything within its powers to rescue the school children safely and unhurt.

“The incentive Based Program (IBP) of Policy House International is appalled by the recent development in Katsina State where several hundreds of school boys have been reportedly kidnapped by suspected bandits from the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara district. This is highly reprehensible, insensitive and inhuman,” the statement said.

“We are pained and distraught that while we are working hard to encourage parents to bring back their kids back to school in the Nigeria North East especially on the backdrop of UNICEF’s estimated 10.5 million out of school children in Nigeria, (a figure we dispute), this happened again right in our very eyes.

“This is indeed a minus in our quest to encourage and build confidence in the educational environment in the region through the incentive framework we have adopted.

“We call on the Nigerian government to do everything within its powers to get these kids released safely and unhurt back to school and get re-united with their parents. We must not the Chibok experience and embarrassment repeat itself again. Negative history should not be allowed to repeat itself in Nigeria.

“The Nigerian government must provide adequate security in all the schools in the Northern region to foster confidence and peaceful/conducive learning environment henceforth.”

The Incentive Based Program also disclosed that it is presently working with relevant partners to encourage over 450,000 parents in the North-East to return their kids to school “based on an arranged incentive framework that will encourage agriculture, small and medium scale enterprises, grant and cash support across some selected states affected by the Boko Haram scourge.”