Abduction of Government School students: Senate wants FG to declare State of Emergency, as governor says ‘they will return safe’

The Senate has urged the Federal Government to declare a State of Emergency in the country due to security challenge.
The Senate resolution was sequel to a Point of Order during Wednesday’s plenary by Senator Sani Musa (APC-Niger) on “The abduction of students of Government Science School (GSS) Kagara, Niger.”
The upper chamber urged President Muhammadu Buhari to consider the recommendations of Senate ad hoc Committee on Nigeria’s security challenges dated March 17, 2020 as well as Senate’s resolution thereof as a holistic response to the security challenges in the country.
Standing on Orders 42 and 52 of the Senate’s Standing Rules, Musa expressed sadness over the abduction of the students at the school in the early hours of Wednesday.
“The bandits dressed in military uniform attacked the boarding school, overpowered the security guards and whisked away the students.
“The number of students kidnapped is not yet known as head count is being conducted in the school to ascertain the actual number of those missing; the school has a population of over a thousand students.
“Security aircraft have been hovering in the air to track the location of the students,” Musa said.
Senator Bima Enagi (APC-Niger) said that virtually all states in the country had experienced one form of security challenge or the other.
“Where are we heading to in this country? What else do we need to do as lawmakers that we are not doing?
“This issue has been discussed over and over again and there is no improvement. Are we going to amend the Nigerian Constitution to give more powers to governors to be chief security officers in their various states?”
He urged government to create economic activities that would engage unemployed youths to check criminal acts.
Sen. Sabi Abdullahi (APC-Niger) said the abduction of the students was yet another sad event which every citizen must be concerned about.
“This is worrisome. It calls for a strong action. Let us remember that Niger is next to FCT. If we believe we are comfortable in FCT, we should begin to understand that if they are in Niger, they are as well in the FCT,” he said.
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan said the issue had been debated on many occasions by the Senate.
“We have debated on this several times and today we are still talking about it.
“While the security agencies are doing their best in the very difficult circumstances they find themselves.
“Our security agencies operate with very scanty resources in terms of personnel and funding,” he said.
Lawan called for more funding for security agencies to enable them tackle security challenges in the country.
Meanwhile, the Niger State Government says it has taken concrete security measures to ensure safety in the state and safe return of the abducted 27 students of the Government Science College, Kagara.
The students, three staff and 12 families of the college in Rafi Local Government Area of the state were abducted in the early hours of Wednesday.
In a news conference in Minna on Wednesday, Governor Abubakar Bello said that his administration had taken concrete security measures to ensure safe return of the students.
Mrs Mary Barje, Chief Press Secretary to Bello said in Minna: “As I speak, Gov. Bello is holding an  emergency security meeting with heads of security agencies in the state to strategise and bring to halt the wanton killings and abductions’’.
She noted that the governor had called for calm from the parents as well as relatives of all those abducted.