Benue attacks: Insecurity forces down enrolment in Benue schools
For the first time in her life, Enewa Adole left the comfort of her father’s home filled with excitement to begin training for a teaching certificate she hoped would help her achieve her dream of becoming a teacher. Her joy was immense, especially because unlike her older siblings who had to travel to distant states […]
For the first time in her life, Enewa Adole left the comfort of her father’s home filled with excitement to begin training for a teaching certificate she hoped would help her achieve her dream of becoming a teacher.
Her joy was immense, especially because unlike her older siblings who had to travel to distant states for higher education, Adole’s college was located right within their district’s home state of Benue.
Like young Adole, the Idoma-speaking people of Benue State received the establishment of the Federal College of Education (FCE) in Odugbo, Apa Local Government Area with great excitement as it signaled progress for a quiet rural community long relegated to the background.
For the people of the land, the school would herald development in all sectors as much as it will uplift their children’s educational background and provide jobs for the teeming unemployed.
- ‘Nigeria First’ must be real, not rhetoric
- Kwankwaso Ceased Being Our Member in 2023 – NNPP Nat’l Chair
Tragically, those hopes are slipping away following deadly attacks by armed invaders along the roads leading to the school, a development that already forced nearby villagers to flee and many students, including Adole, to abandon their studies and return home in fear.
Adole’s story, no doubt, mirrors that of many students and farmers whose lives have been upended by the worsening security crisis in different parts of Benue State.
For instance, Edwin Ogebe, another student who abandoned his pursuit of education at the FCE, Odugbo, lamented the threat that insecurity poses to the newly established institution.
He said, “It is a sad reality. I had high hopes but couldn’t cope in the face of such risks that the roads to the school pose to me. I had barely resumed schooling in Odugbo sometimes last year when a colleague was kidnapped along the way. That was how my parents ordered me back home.”
For Barnabas Benjamin, a rural farmer displaced from his ancestral home, it hasn’t been easy coping with life at the camp and depending on handouts from good- spirited individuals for survival when he has an abandoned vast farmland but could not access it.
He said, “I am a farmer who have lost all my belongings during the crisis, which displaced us from Tse-Asoo village in the Yelewata area of Guma Local Government, otherwise I would be doing what I know best.”
In Otukpo, where the Federal University of Health Science (FUHSO) is located, the insecurity in its Otobi-Akpa host community has impacted negatively on the institution as those who ordinarily should seek admission relocated elsewhere across the country for the fear of uncertainty.
That’s the story for Samantha Ikyor, who declined to seek admission into the FUHSO over recent attacks on communities hosting the institution.
“We hear terrible stories everyday and don’t know what to believe anymore. So I will be safer to do schooling elsewhere or wait for next year’s admission into the state-owned university in Makurdi,” Ikyor said.
Indeed, the recent activities of armed invaders have not only heightened insecurity affecting farming, food production and the livelihood of people who largely depend on agriculture but are now also negatively impacting tertiary education.
To this end, the Federal College of Education in Odugbo, one of the most affected institutions, has had its operations crippled, with activities stalling and uncertainty surrounding its next resumption.
“We have had to shut down multiple times. Many students have stopped coming. Parents are afraid. We are uncertain if we can sustain the next academic session,” a senior staff member who asked not to be named told our correspondent in Makurdi..
For instance, the staff said, “We are supposed to resume after Easter break, but that has been postponed indefinitely. Our resumption is until further notice because of the insecurity.”
The staff said there were two routes leading to the school: the shorter Umogidi-Iwili road from Adoka town center, and the longer Adoka-Amoke route, which passes through Idikwu before reaching Odugbo.
“But none of the roads are safe. At the Iwili axis, the armed invaders take advantage of the gully erosion to occupy that space, so they kidnap and rape female victims at will. Around the area, which also borders Mbappa, a Tiv community with Adoka’s Opaha to link Odugbo is a dangerous ground, especially as the communities have been deserted following previous attacks.
“I personally escaped being kidnapped by the whiskers the last time I went to work. I was saved by some villagers who warned me to turn back my vehicle because the attackers had laid siege on the road. It is a pathetic situation that is now affecting student enrollment.
“We had started well in 2022 and increasing population gradually to over 500 students, but with the growing insecurity around the college last year, many parents withdrew their children/wards. This affected our population and it is now we are trying to rebuild again. There is an ongoing scholarship initially meant for only Idoma prospective students, but it has been extended to cover the state; that’s really helping our enrollment,” the staff posited.
For Adakole Inalegwu Daniel, the president of the Idoma National Youth Forum, “The rising cases of attacks across Benue State have led to a sharp increase in school dropouts, largely due to the deaths of breadwinners or sponsors of young students, and the closure of numerous schools in the affected communities.
“We have witnessed countless situations where thousands of surviving students have been denied access to education, either because their schools were shut down or teachers refused to return to work due to repeated attacks. In many cases, school infrastructures have also been destroyed.
‘The situation at the FUSHO is even worse as the school has some departments and faculties located in areas recently attacked, such as GRA extension in Otukpo. This has forced students to stay away out of fear for their lives. In many communities across the Benue South senatorial district, education has been cut short for countless young students.”
Institutions reaction
Professor Joel Obo Eriba, the provost of FCE, Odugbo, told our correspondent in Makurdi that the purpose of establishing the institution was being undermined by ongoing armed attacks.
“The case of the Federal College of Education is a very painful one. While the federal government is trying to make sure that education reaches the people in the grassroots and encourages the teaching profession for the young ones, the continued attack in Apa, Gwer West and Otukpo local government areas have scared students and members of staff out of the newly opened school,” Eriba said.
Recall that the Federal College of Education, Odugbo was established on November 18, 2019 alongside six other federal colleges of education across the country by the then President Muhammadu Buhari, while its principal officers were appointed on March 16, 2021.
Academic activities officially commenced in October 2022 with the admission of the first set of students. The college held its maiden matriculation ceremony in May 2023, during which 500 students were formally admitted into 18 Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) programmes.
Meanwhile, a recent scholarship initiative by some unnamed sponsors initially offered scholarships to 1,000 Idoma students before it was later extended to include other ethnic groups in the state.
However, due to the insecurity affecting the institution’s environment – which had earlier led to a drastic drop in enrollment – there is a strong likelihood of uncertain response to this free opportunity.
Other schools, like the premier Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo, are also feeling the strain. Although located in a relatively safer area, the surge in attacks on farms, homes and kidnapping within the Otukpo Local Government Area has increased the spate of insecurity on the institution.
James Onogwu, the head, Information, Publication and Public Relations Unit of the FUHSO, noted that there had been a series of seemingly coordinated armed attacks, including kidnapping along major roads in Otukpo, Makurdi, Otukpo, Oweto, during which the arsonists burnt down houses. Lives were also lost, while properties worth millions of naira were destroyed.
Onogwu maintained, “The news of these happenings has traumatically affected students on the campuses, including the remedial science programme. Also, the staff (teaching and non-teaching), and the university’s immediate host communities of Otada, GRA, Otobi Akpa and Akwete-Akpa, were worst hit as movement and access to essential goods and food became difficult.
“Consequently, the ugly incidents of insecurity triggered traumatic disorder and toxic stress that affected learning negatively in the FUHSO. It is noteworthy to state that the neighbouring agrarian communities of Otukpo, Nobi, Akpachi and Emichi that share boundaries with FUHSO were sacked by these marauders, better known as ‘killer herdsmen.’
“The university management, arising from the Senate meeting recently, announced a two-week break. This smart move was to avert a scenario where students are being kidnapped, as was the case in the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Federal University, Lafia and Federal University, Gusau, Zamfara State, to mention few.
“The state of insecurity necessitated the Idoma Traditional Council to call for a symposium on April 21 and 22, 2025 to brainstorm and come out with a homegrown remedy to the hydra-headed monster, insecurity in Benue South. To address these challenges, we advocate a comprehensive approach involving the federal, state and local actors.
“The security architecture must be strengthened. There should be community policing, where the presence of the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps would be felt around schools. The federal government should invest more in education infrastructure to enhance access to quality education for all.”
120 killed in April alone
There has been a resurgence of attacks across Benue State, with at least 120 people killed in April across 9 local government areas following available reports as at Tuesday, April 29, 2025.
Residents, however, think the actual figure may be higher due to unreported cases in remote communities.
Our correspondent reports that a breakdown of the timeline of attacks across the state shows the scale of the carnage thus: As at April 28, the killing of a farmer in Guma Local Government brought the total number of people killed in Benue State by armed attacks in April to 120 within just 29 days. As at April 22, the Sankera axis recorded the highest number of fatalities, with a staggering 83 people killed in various attacks across the three local government areas – Kastina-Ala, Logo and Ukum areas in five days after they were first attacked on April 17. On April 15 in Otukpo Local Government Area, gunmen attacked Otobi-Akpa community, leaving 13 bodies behind. A separate attack on a passenger-bus on April 4 resulted in the death of three people, bringing the total number in Otukpo to 16 deaths.
On April 9 in Gwer East, an assault on Mbasombo community claimed the lives of three people. Also, on April 9 and 24, Gwer West was hit twice. The first attack on April 9 claimed two lives, while the second on Thursday, April 24 left seven dead, totaling 9 deaths in the local government area.
In Guma Local Government Area, two people were killed on April 22. As at Friday, April 25, five people were killed in Kwande and Makurdi, making a total of six deaths recorded.
Farmers lament decline in food production
Weekend Trust reports that farmers are worried that what began years ago as sporadic invasions on farming communities has evolved into a prolonged nightmare of killings, kidnapping and destruction, to the extent that communities that were once vibrant with farming and learning are now deserted, and their people are either in displaced persons camps or living in fear.
Uvershigh Mathew Akpa, the secretary of the Agagbe Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp, who has lived there with his wife and four children since 2021, lamented that feeding had become a daily struggle.
“We have a serious food problem. Water too is scarce. We do not have a livelihood. Often, we sleep hungry because I don’t always find menial jobs,” Akpa said.
Also, Mimidoo Kiva, a mother of three widowed by the crisis, which displaced her family from their ancestral Tse-Nule village in Guma Local Government Area, forcing them to take shelter at the Ichuwa IDP camp in Makurdi, wonders what may become of them in the future without access to their farmland for food production. “The future looks bleak for us,” Kiva opined.
The coordinator of Sustainable Agriculture in Benue State, Comrade Aondongu Saaku, is afraid that there would be shortage of food in the country following the unabating attacks and displacement of farmers from their homes.
Saaku, a former state chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), said everything had been affected by the insecurity bedeviling the state, including children in affected areas abandoning schools and parents unable to farm and sell any of their produce to pay their school fees.
He said, “Insecurity is seriously and negatively affecting schools. Food insecurity is also on the rise because many people have abandoned their farms in several areas. Just look at the current cost of yam and maize in the market, compared to previous years.
“There is food shortage now because people have fled and left their farms. It is even hard to find water-yams in the market these days – they are simply not available. What is worse is that when these attackers reach the farms and see where food is stored, they break into the barns, chop up the yam, including water-yam and feed them to their cattle, calling it ‘indomie.’ That is how bad things have gotten.”
We’re affected too – MACBAN
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has emphasised that herders are also affected, distancing its members from the ongoing killings in Benue State, which they described as acts of criminality.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, the state secretary of MACBAN, Ibrahim Galma said, “The reality is that what is happening is a criminal activity. Herders are also victims. Our cattle are being rustled and killed, and some of our people are losing their lives as well.
“We are not the ones perpetrating this evil. The solution lies with local authorities and stakeholders coming together to find a way forward; we are outsiders in this matter. What is happening is purely criminality.”
Communities must wake up to responsibility – Security experts
A retired senior officer of the Department of State Service (DSS), Orgem Angulum, who is worried that farming activities are hindered to the overall detriment of food security, has urged the affected communities to wake up to their responsibilities of safeguarding their environment and educational institutions in their land.
He regretted that the bandits are terrorising students and staff of the FCE, Odugbo, as well as FUHSO.
“The community should wake up; and the school should liaise with the police to deal with the trend. The institution and other institutions should not just employ individuals into their security department; those security personnel should be trained to detect danger.
“As it is now, the students are helpless. I think the community should provide frontline defence. These communities should strengthen their vigilante groups to provide protection for schools and students,” he advised.
Angulum harped on the importance of training security employees, mainly on diplomatic engagement, adding that the medical university in Otukpo can train their personnel to engage diplomatically and to the extent that they can deradicalised students.
“The community should form a strong synergy with the schools and conventional security outfits, such as the police. School security should be on the alert for warning signals,” the security expert also advised.