Nigeria's leader said on Tuesday that the country's government is implementing a “massive education program” for youth as one way to address the rise in kidnappings for ransom currently threatening the capital and other parts of the conflict-hit north. ” he said.
President Bola Tinubu won last year's election promising to rid the West African country of the security crisis. But deadly attacks continue, particularly in the north, with the capital Abuja recording a spike in kidnappings along highways and in residential homes in recent weeks.
Tinubu condemned the abductions as “disgusting, ungodly and evil” and touted education as “the antidote to the problems roiling the nation,” according to a statement from Presidential Spokesperson Ajuli Ngerale.
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“There is no more powerful weapon against poverty than learning,” the statement said. “While security agencies are acting with urgency to immediately address the current challenges, all necessary resources, policies and plans will soon be deployed for the mass education of Nigeria’s youth. ”
President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria attends the second day of the COP28 climate conference at Expo City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Friday, December 1, 2023. (Holly Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Nigeria's security forces are already battling jihadist insurgents in the northeast, as well as armed groups that frequently commit mass killings and kidnappings in remote areas of the northwest and central regions.
Residents of the capital's outskirts are now moving out amid a surge in kidnappings for ransom, suspected to be carried out by armed groups from unstable neighboring states.
Analysts said Tinubu had not done much to address the security crisis.
Oluwole Ojewale, a West and Central Africa researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, who specializes in Africa, said, “Nigeria is heading towards a failed state due to (the presence of) non-state armed groups challenging state authority.''
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Tinubu promised that the Nigerian government would “mobilize” all of Nigeria's assets to protect its people, but “there is still no visible improvement in the security situation,” Ojewale said.
