Schoolchildren Are Also Kidnapped in U.S, Others – Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says abduction of schoolchildren does not only happen in Nigeria but also in developed countries.

Speaking on Monday night on Channels Television‘s “News Night” programme, Mohammed said abduction of students was not peculiar to Nigeria alone.

The minister said cases of abduction of schoolchildren have happened in the United States and other developed nations of the world.

Mohammed noted that one of the ways to curb the abduction of soft targets is through intelligence gathering and surveillance rather than the physical presence of soldiers or policemen in schools.

He, however, said the Federal Government would not pay ransom to secure the release of the abducted students and staff of the Government Science College, Kagara, Niger State.

He said: “Even in the most developed countries of this world, school kidnapping takes place. Last year, in the US, we all witnessed three or four school kidnappings, and that is probably one of the most developed countries in the world.

“The thing about terrorism is that the terrorists don’t live by your own rules and they are especially interested in soft targets. They know that what is going to get global attention is kidnapping school children.

“We must be careful; we can’t turn all our schools into barracks. What is important is intelligence gathering, surveillance rather than the physical presence of the soldiers or policemen.

“We are dealing with people who don’t think like me and you, we are dealing with people who don’t have any rules of engagement, we are dealing with people whose motivation is completely different from mine and yours. And anywhere in the world, this is how terrorists operate but the most important thing is to learn from what is happening and adapt.”