NANS Condemn Attack On Education, Says Its The Strongest Threat To Nationhood

The National Association of Nigeria Students, NANS, has condemned in its totality series of attacks on the country’s educational systems.

Addressing the spate of insecurity in the country in a statement made available to newsmen during the weekend, the President of the association, Sunday Asefon, said the attack on education in Nigeria is the strongest threat to nationhood.

While commending President Muhammadu Buhari-led government on its efforts in ending banditry and all forms of terrorism in the country, NANS stated that it would on November 24 convoke Students’ National Security Summit “to discuss and agree on modalities to improve campus security by the students in partnership with security agencies”.

Asefon in the statement admitted that schools are now much safer than months back after an onslaught on the terrorist groups.

NANs President described security as a fundamental foundation upon which other development could be built.

Naija News reports that Asefon in the statement titled ‘Nigeria at 61: Reflection on our potentials and our realities’ to mark the country’s 61st independence anniversary, lamented the spate of insecurity in schools and campuses and the attendant deaths and kidnapping of many students.

He said, “I do not think there is any stronger threat against our nationhood than the attack on educational institutions”.

Asefon further charged the nation’s policymakers to make concerted and conscious efforts to address the decay that had attended the nation’s education.

He said: “The swing towards total privatization of quality education is cancerous to the nation and national security.

“We must accept that Nigerians are not asking for too much when they ask to sleep with their two eyes closed, when they ask for better healthcare when they ask for good roads and ask for laws that do not distinguish between the affluent and the poor.

“As Nigerians and as students, we must ask ourselves whether our schools are doing better after 61 years, we must ask whether our curriculums are solving real our societal problems, we must ask whether the infrastructures in our campuses are better off after 61 years.

“We must ask whether researches are better, whether we feel safe in our schools as we use to 61 years ago, we must ask whether education provides the opportunity it provided 61 years ago and whether we could proudly send our wards to public schools around the country. These and more questions are begging for answers.

“However, we must equally accept that we cannot continue to shift the blame and pass the buck. From the South to the North, we must accept responsibilities, from the young to the old, rich and poor. We must ask ourselves the fundamental questions of what we have done better individually”.

Meanwhile, no fewer than twenty-four fighters of the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) have been reportedly killed by Boko Haram terrorists in a recent clash, Naija News reports.