The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has declared June 12 as “a national day of protest” for all Nigerian students rather than the celebration of Democracy Day.
The National President of NANS, Sunday Asefon, who disclosed this to journalists on Tuesday in Ado Ekiti, said the country should not be celebrating Democracy Day on June 12 while students are being killed and kidnapped by bandits.
According to him, about 200 students of Islamiyya School were kidnapped in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State “in a shocking and bizarre fashion barely 24 hours after students of Greenfield University, Kaduna, were released by their abductors”.
Mr Asefon said: “Putting it in the right perspective, the government and security apparatuses have failed us. We can no longer trust them.
“The government must convene a national dialogue where people can come with different ideas and proffer solutions to this insecurity issue.
“We are daunted by the endless news of kidnapping of students in their hundreds within the last two years.
“This development is not only unacceptable; it challenges the very fabrics of our national development, unity, cohesion and portends grave danger to our educational institutions.
“NANS under my leadership, having considered the continuous threats to the lives of our students and the lukewarm pace of security apparatuses to these nefarious crimes, regrettably call on government to order immediate and temporary closure of all schools in the North-west and North-central until adequate security is put in place.”
He regretted that NANS was not left with a practical alternative than to ask for the closure of schools.
