Ogun students kidnapping and Queen Elizabeth’s message of hope
It is no longer news that three female students, a Turkish teacher, a cook, two assistant supervisors and a hostel mistress of the Nigerian Tulip International School (NTIC) Ogun, were kidnapped in a daredevil operation in the school premises on January 13th instant, precisely last week. This is in spite of the fact that the […]
It is no longer news that three female students, a Turkish teacher, a cook, two assistant supervisors and a hostel mistress of the Nigerian Tulip International School (NTIC) Ogun, were kidnapped in a daredevil operation in the school premises on January 13th instant, precisely last week. This is in spite of the fact that the school remains one of few in Nigeria that has CCTV, and which also has resident, well-armed mobile policemen in the campus.
What is news however is that the revered Queen Elizabeth of England has joined the growing list of leaders who are deeply saddened by the criminal act that has sent shockwaves across the globe.
Queen Elizabeth’s association with the school, owned by some foreign investors of Turkish extraction, came about when one of its students, Delta State born Miss Nkechukwu Azinge, founded the Sickle Cell Aid Foundation (SCAF), a non-governmental organisation raising awareness on sickle cell disorder and helping patients get access to quality healthcare. SCAF gave birth to three worthy children: Know Your Genotype Campaign, Online Blood Registration Drive and Beneficiary Friendship Follow-up.
Whereas these unprecedented initiatives were hardly even acknowledged in Nigeria, Nkechi’s country of birth, the Queen of England rightfully views it as having the potential to revolutionise the world and the way that ailment is treated. She therefore invited the young woman to Buckingham Palace and presented her with the prestigious Queen’s Young Leaders Award. The Queen also enlisted Nkechi as a member of the Commonwealth Youth Achievers.
Clearly, that is an honour done to Nigeria and Africa as a whole. As far as the Queen is concerned, Nkechi is an international asset, and Nigeria should do well to discover more of her type among the tens of millions of kids spread in all nooks and crannies of our society and achieve greatness by nurturing them to fruition.
The NTIC, like many other schools all over the country, has been providing high quality education to its privileged students, many of who were not even born with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouth. It has been helping Nigeria’s educational development by instituting a robust, credible competitive scholarship scheme that ensures children of the poorest in our society get admitted to its high profile, equipped campuses in six different states of the country.
For a school that leaves nothing to chance, whose owners and management take the security and wellbeing of its students seriously, it says a lot about the depth criminality is fast assuming in the country – inspite of clear efforts by government to nip it in the bud – that men of the underworld will succeed in kidnapping members of its secured community, even if through the back door, as they did.
Were the kidnappers instigated or sponsored by enemies of the school owners to do so and thereby embarrass the school and get them to achieve their openly known desire to have the schools shut down? I pray not. Were they of the false impression that all the students are children of the nouveau rich, whose parents can easily part with disposable millions, to make them demand for a whopping sum of N1.2bn as ransom? So many questions and endless questions whose answer only time will tell.
It is reassuring that the security services are fully on their toes trying to crack this case and get to the root of the matter. Already, an arrest has been made, which raises serious hope that very soon, the rest of the criminal gang will be uncovered and arrested as well.
With this kidnapping coming so shortly after another one in a school in Lagos, the one thing that has become very clear is that students all over the country are fast becoming endangered species. It is difficult to think that the perpetrators want a stop to Western education, like Boko Haram does. The motive seems to be informed by the lures of money, and the desperation of some of our youths to make it by hook or by crook.
Whereas the prevailing economic situation in Nigeria is biting really hard on virtually all citizens, including the parents of those girls and the school owners, the fact remains only a tiny percentage of Nigerians have taken to criminality like kidnapping as a means of survival. This, of course, raises hope that the menace is quenchable.
And as government continues to take measures to restore normalcy and get the country out of the woods, there is even more hope that criminal elements, such as the ones that have kidnapped those girls in Ogun, will no longer have a safe haven in our midst, or in any sane society.
One thing that is very significant is that kidnappers and other criminal gangs should never be allowed even the feel of victory. Our legislative bodies need to swiftly toughen the laws against kidnapping and make it punishable with death. The police has a duty to help strengthen security in all our schools, so that no institution will ever be breached by the criminals again. To give vent to this, NTIC Ogun should open its gates for all its students to resume their studies at the end of the one week break occasioned by this kidnapping, and parents should, in concert with the PTA, return their wards and shame the agents of darkness.
Already, parents of the school have issued a joint statement with the school management expressing confidence in the Nigerian security services, and hoping the kidnappers will have a change of heart and release the kidnapped unharmed. All negative rumours being circulated by enemies of the school owners should be discountenanced, while we await information from the constituted authorities.
Ado, a public affairs commentator, wrote this piece from Abuja.