What is happening to education in the north of Nigeria is “worrisome, questionable and discouraging”.

So said Umar Goni, a lecturer in the education faculty of the University of Maiduguri. He told RNI reporter Lawan Bukar Maigana that history had shown that people in the north lacked interest in education, mostly because it was based on Western teaching methods.

“And now unpatriotic elements are encouraging northerners to take their children out of Western-style boarding schools, saying this will help to stop the kidnappings and abductions,” Goni said.

“Only God can stop the kidnapping of students and teachers,” he said.

Goni did not know the exact number of schools that had been closed since the kidnappings had begun but most schools – primary and secondary − in the north of Borno State had closed. Some schools in Maiduguri and Damaturu were still open.

“I know that schools have been closed for a while now in Bama, Ngala, Mafa and Dikwa. Some schools remained open but later closed because of the ferocity and the increasing number of the attacks.”

Goni supported parents who had taken their children out of boarding schools, saying that was better than being forced to pay a ransom.

“If today you take your daughter to school and someone kidnaps her, you will have to pay a ransom to get her back. Parents should take their children out of school immediately,” he said, adding that they should hire teachers to educate their children at home.

Goni believed that the kidnappings – particularly those of female students – were a deliberate attempt to force people to stop schooling.

“The ongoing kidnapping of students in the north is deliberate. Politicians are behind it. If Nigeria was a military state, all these problems would not exist and those who perpetrated or sponsored the kidnappings would be decisively dealt with,” Goni said.