Teachers union threatens nationwide strike over rising attacks on schools

The Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, has placed its members on standby for a nationwide strike, warning that the escalating insecurity affecting schools has become an existential threat to teachers, non-academic staff and millions of children.

NUT President, Titus Amba-Audu, speaking at a media briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, accused the Federal Government of paying lip-service to education security and failing to implement the Safe Schools Declaration fully. He said this neglect has emboldened criminal groups to target schools with increasing frequency.

In the past month alone, armed groups abducted 25 students from Government Girls Comprehensive Science College, Maga in Kebbi State, and another 315 pupils and students from Saint Mary’s Primary and Secondary School in Papari, Niger State. Amba-Audu said the union, like all Nigerians, is outraged.

He condemned the killing of a vice principal and a security guard during the attack in Kebbi and said the wave of violence has forced the closure of several schools, putting the future of children at risk. According to him, the attacks highlight the government’s failure to carry out the Safe Schools Declaration and other policies meant to shield learners and educators.

Nigeria has endured a long list of school abductions in the past decade. They include the abduction of 276 girls from Government Secondary School, Chibok in 2014; the kidnapping of 110 schoolgirls from Dapchi in 2018, including Leah Sharibu who remains in captivity; and the 2021 abductions at the Federal College of Forestry in Kaduna, Government Secondary School Jangebe and the Zamfara College of Agriculture and Animal Science.

Other incidents include the abduction of 121 students from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna in July 2021 and the kidnapping of 287 pupils in Kuriga, Kaduna State, in March 2024.

The NUT said teachers across the country are united in demanding immediate action from all tiers of government. The union warned that unless schools are secured and communities protected, it will have no choice but to proceed with a nationwide industrial action.