Teachers in Rivers under the umbrella, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Tuesday staged a protest in solidarity with similar protests across parts of the country against the abduction and torture of about 40 pupils of a nursery and primary school in Ibadan, Oyo State.
This is as State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara has assured the union of the security of teachers and pupils across schools in Rivers State.
The teachers who brandished placards with various inscriptions, were at Government House, Port Harcourt, in solidarity with their colleagues who were abducted by terrorists about two weeks ago.
The protest was part of a nationwide action by the NUT to draw public attention to the plight of their colleagues who were kidnapped from three schools in Oyo State and are still in captivity.
Secretary of the NUT, Rivers State Wing, Comrade Bassey Asuquo, who led the protest described the action as a solemn march of solidarity with their fallen colleague whose life was cut short by the bandits and the abducted teachers and students still languishing in captivity.
Asuquo lamented that teachers in Nigeria had become endangered species as the average teacher wakes up every morning to go to school to impart knowledge to their pupils, not knowing whether they will return home alive.
“The school is supposed to be a sanctuary, a place where the future of our nation is nurtured, shaped and prepared for greatness. But what we have witnessed in Oyo State is a brutal attack on a school and the cold blooded beheading of our noble colleague. It is not only a crime against education itself, it is an assault on our collective future as a people.
“Let it be known that what happened in Oyo State is not an isolated incident. We have seen similar acts of terror in Borno State. We have watched helplessly as schools, the temples of knowledge, are turned into theatres of horror. We refuse to be silenced. We refuse to accept this as the new normal,” he said.
Asuquo demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the teachers and students still held in captivity and urged the Federal Government as well as all State Governments to take immediate and decisive steps to end the recurring attacks on schools across Nigeria.
The NUT scribe also demanded the immediate deployment of adequate security personnel to all public schools across Rivers State and the federation while the government puts in place a comprehensive national school safety policy that protects students, teachers and school infrastructure from attacks, abduction and all forms of violence.
Addressing the protesters, Governor Fubara disclosed that the state government had been working closely with security agencies to ensure the safety of schools, teachers and pupils across Rivers State.
Governor Fubara, represented by the state Commissioner for Education, Dr. Peters Nwagor, said the state would continue to do all it can to ensure that incidents of attacks and abductions were prevented from occurring in the state.
He also prevailed on the NUT to exercise a little patience as the Federal Government was already working out strategies to ensure that the abducted teachers and pupils were released within the shortest possible time.
