PRESS
RELEASE
SSCAG
TASKS AMBODE & SECURITY AGENCIES ON THE RESCUE OF SIX (6) KIDNAPPED
STUDENTS OF LAGOS STATE MODEL COLLEGE, IGBONLA-EPE
The Safe Schools and
Communities Advocacy Group (SSCAG) has called for more urgent actions towards
the rescue of the six (6) secondary school students of Lagos State Model
College, Igbonla-Epe who have been languishing in kidnappers’ den for over 40
days now.
SSCAG was launched on
Friday 30 June 2017 by a coalition of trade unions, Civil Society Organisations
(CSOs) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in response to the unresolved
kidnap of the 6 students and other rising spate of criminality in communities
in Lagos State.
The six (6) students
were kidnapped from their school dormitories on 25 May 2017. Since then the
police and other security operatives have been giving assurances that they are
on top of the situation but there has been no positive outcome.
Spokespersons for SSCAG,
Comrade Adeola Soetan and ‘Debisi Alokolaro said in a statement today that “the
pains and pangs the 6 students might be going through were impossible to
imagine”.
“We hereby urge the
Lagos State Governor to mobilize all relevant security apparatus for the
purpose of giving fresh impetus to the rescue efforts of the helpless students.
This responsibility cannot be left to the traumatized parents and guardians of
the students”, Soetan and Alokolaro said.
SSCAG said further that
the unresolved kidnap of the school students was an eye opener that our schools
and communities were not safe and therefore demanded better security in the
schools and improved funding of public education.
“When children do not
feel safe in school, the result will be a reversal of gains made in enrolment
and literacy over the years. In this sense, the kidnap is also an attack on
education and our collective security”.
The statement said that
SSCAG was determined to engage with the Lagos State government and security
agencies to ensure that the children are rescued safe and sound adding that if
the backlog of promises by the state government and the police was anything to
go by, the children ought to have regained their freedom by now.
SSCAG also said it was
particularly worrisome that there is no information to the public and the
parents as to the progress so far contrary to global best practices.
“While we recognize the
need not to jeopardize police operations, nonetheless we believe that a process
to regularly interface with the parents and the public is crucial to build
public confidence. Ultimately security is a collective responsibility”, SSCAG
noted.
SSCAG also said the Epe
school kidnap and the rising spate of criminality like the Badoo cult
activities and similar reign of criminal terror across the state and country
have deep social roots and therefore reinforces the need to address the
unemployment of about 40 million youths.
SSCAG equally said that
the state government should desist from denying people their means of
livelihood through the seizure of commercial motorcycles and the demolition of
poor people’s homes, markets and mechanic villages in slums and waterfronts
communities without compensation.
“Unless we replace
these anti-poor policies with those that recognize human being as the centre of
society’s progress and development, those neglected and dispossessed of shelter
and means of livelihood may not stop descending on society with revenge in
mind”, SSCAG explained further.
Members of SSCAG
include: Education Rights Campaign (ERC), Women Arise for Change Initiative
(WA), Women Advocate Research and Documentation (WARDC), Environmental Rights
Action (ERA), Enough is Enough (EiE), Community Life Project (CLP), Kudirat
Initiative for Democracy (KIND), United Labour Congress (ULC), Socialist Party
of Nigeria (SPN), Women, Law and Development Centre, Nigeria (WLDCN), Federation
of Muslim Women’s Association in Nigeria (FOMWAN), National Conscience Party (NCP)
Lagos State Chapter, Socialist Workers League (SWL), United Action for
Democracy (UAD), Socialist Workers Movement (SWM), Centre for Anti-Corruption
and Open Leadership (CACOL), Activista Lagos, Community Women Initiative (CWI),
Save Lagos Group (SLG) and International Press Centre (IPC).
Adekunle
Ajayi Wiseman
For:
Media
Committee, SSCAG
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