The Senate on Tuesday condemned the attack on Government Girls School, Maga in Kebbi State, where gunmen killed a vice principal and abducted 25 students, and called for sweeping security reforms, including the urgent recruitment of 100,000 additional military personnel.
The lawmakers’ resolution followed a motion of urgent national importance raised by Senator Abdullahi Yahaya (Kebbi North), who described the attack as “a slap on the face of our nation.”
Yahaya, recounting the invasion of the school in Kebbi South Senatorial District, said the terrorists also left the school principal severely injured.
He warned that the repeated targeting of educational institutions threatens national stability and further discourages girls from pursuing education.
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Yahaya recalled a similar abduction in the state in 2022, noting that “it took four years to rescue the victims.”
He stressed that “this terrorism targeting students must stop,” urging security agencies to immediately track down the perpetrators and appealing to President Bola Tinubu to “leave no stone unturned in bringing the attackers to justice.”
His motion sparked a heated response across the chamber, as senators drew attention to the continuing assaults on schools nationwide.
Former Senate President Ahmad Lawan lamented that the nation risks losing an entire generation if urgent steps are not taken.
He argued that safeguarding schools must be a shared responsibility.
“Security should not only be the job of the Federal Government. I have never blamed former President Olusegun Obasanjo while I was a governor.
” I had gone out of my way to help Anambra and other states in terms of security,” he said.
Senator Victor Umeh (Anambra Central) expressed frustration at the frequency of school attacks and called for the deployment of technology to locate the abducted children.
“This matter is what many people don’t want to discuss anymore. But it is a matter of national importance. They were taken away and are still being moved around.
“So we urge security agencies to deploy their technology to find them,” he said.
Senator Solomon Lalong (Plateau South) questioned the effectiveness of the World Bank–backed Safe School programme, drawing parallels with the tragedy of the Chibok girls.
“What has the girl child done to Nigeria? What is wrong with the Safe School programme funded by the World Bank, because I was also a part of it?
“This is the same fate that befell our Chibok girls. It should be treated as a matter of national security before it turns into another Chibok experience,” he said.
The Senate, in response, constituted an ad hoc committee, comprising the Committee on Finance and other relevant committees to investigate the funding, utilisation, and impact of the Safe School Initiative.
Lawmakers insisted that the resurgence of school abductions raises serious concerns about whether funds allocated for securing learning environments were properly applied.
Presiding over the session, Senate President Godswill Akpabio condemned the attack and noted the disturbing pattern of school kidnappings, recalling that the Chibok abduction happened “on the eve of a major election” in 2014.
He cautioned that the latest assault comes at a time when the international community is paying close attention to Nigeria’s security posture.
He said, “The Senate condemns this dastardly act, especially violence against our children. We urge the FG and security agencies to apprehend these criminals and rescue our children without delay.”
Akpabio also questioned the logistics used by the attackers and announced that senators’ contributions would feed into the forthcoming national security summit.
“When we talked about these students being abducted, what did they use to convey them? But it is important to get the views of Nigerians to be compiled for our security summit,” he added.
The Senate observed a minute of silence in honour of the vice principal who was killed while attempting to shield the students from the gunmen, before moving into a closed-door session to discuss further security measures.
Security agencies have since commenced a coordinated search-and-rescue operation involving the military and police to track the attackers and recover the abducted students.
