Do we need security around our schools?
The spate at which schools across the country are exposed to diverse man-made and natural disasters, especially kidnapping, sexual harassment, substance abuse, and sundry violence lends credence to the fact that a lot needs to be done to keep learners safe, and insulate them from dangerous mishaps, including death.
Sadly, while the Federal Government is still battling unsuccessfully to end the era of terrorists and sundry outlaws strolling into schools to either kill, or shepherd away hundreds of students in a manner that questions the country’s security strategies, and the capacity of our intelligence agencies, kidnappers are still devising means and ways of sustaining their heinous trade.
One of the latest in such dastard schemes was the recently botched attempt by a two-man team of criminals to kidnap a pupil of Mind Builders School, Omole Phase 1 Annexe, in the Ikeja area of Lagos State.
Luck ran out of Temitayo Olafisoye, who was arrested, while his accomplice, Kayode Akinola, escaped from the scene.
Narrating the incident, the Education Director of the school, Mrs. Bolajoko Falore, said that as soon as the parent, who had pulled over to drop the child stepped out of the car, “one of the kidnappers, who assumed that the ignition key was still in the car, entered the car and attempted to drive off, while the parent was trying to get the child out of the car.
“Fortunately, the parent who was holding the car key shouted and drew the attention of the school’s security men and that of other security operatives within the estate, who closed in on the kidnapper and got him arrested, while his partner escaped.
“Upon interrogation, the suspect confessed that the gang has been kidnapping many children in Lagos State for some time now and was subsequently handed over to the Nigeria Police Force at Ojodu Police Station for a thorough investigation, and subsequent prosecution,” Falore said.
After listening to Olafisoye’s confession in a viral video clip, which trended heavily on social media, Mrs. Yewande Omotoso, a mother of three was dumbstruck. When she finally found her voice, she elected to wax philosophical.
“Perhaps what I’ve just watched was intended to serve as a big lesson for me,” she said, adding, “ I don’t know what I would have told my husband if what I just watched happened to me.”
Parents should also watch out for others. It’s very risky to be on your phone when you pick up or drop off your child. This is a time that all hands must be on deck. If in the process of doing this you notice a strange face looming in the neighborhood, the right thing is to raise the alarm.
Credit: The Guardian Newspaper.