Security
…says government must account or lose moral authority
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) condemns in the strongest possible terms the continued, repeated, and now normalized abduction of schoolchildren, teachers, and school administrators across Nigeria, most recently the shocking invasion of schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, where armed criminals stormed learning environments, killed innocent persons, and abducted defenceless victims now seen in distressing videos begging for rescue. One of the teachers kidnapped by the terrorists has already been beheaded by the notorious mass murderers.
This is not merely insecurity. It is a catastrophic collapse of the most basic function of the state.
A government that cannot protect schoolchildren in classrooms has fundamentally failed in its constitutional duty. When the state loses the ability to secure schools, it has effectively surrendered one of its most sacred responsibilities and must confront the reality that it is operating without moral legitimacy. Security of lives is not a campaign slogan—it is the very foundation of governance.
HURIWA warns that Nigeria is dangerously sliding into a state of normalised emergency where mass abductions of students are becoming routine headlines, while official responses remain repetitive, defensive, and disconnected from reality.
The so-called school security interventions have clearly collapsed under the weight of implementation failure, corruption suspicion, and lack of measurable outcomes.
We demand without equivocation that the Federal Government and all affected state governments immediately come clean before Nigerians. They must provide a detailed and public accounting of all funds, grants, and donor-supported interventions expended on school safety initiatives over the years. Nigerians cannot continue to witness mass abductions while billions allegedly allocated for protection vanish into opaque bureaucratic channels with no visible impact on ground security.
This disgraceful pattern raises urgent questions about accountability, transparency, and sincerity of purpose in governance.
Equally alarming is the persistent exposure of Nigeria’s border security failure. It is no longer a matter of speculation that Nigeria’s borders remain dangerously porous, with hundreds of unmanned entry points repeatedly acknowledged by security agencies including Customs and Immigration. These gaps have become open corridors for arms trafficking, criminal infiltration, and cross-border banditry.
Years ago, HURIWA warned that Nigeria must adopt a comprehensive border security doctrine, including the physical fencing of vulnerable land borders with neighbouring countries such as Chad, Cameroon, and Niger, alongside advanced technological surveillance of both land and maritime boundaries. That warning was ignored with contempt, and today the consequences are being paid for in human blood and national trauma.
A sovereign nation without secure borders is a state living on borrowed authority. Nigeria cannot continue to pretend it controls territory it cannot even monitor.
We therefore demand immediate clarification from the Federal Government on the exact operational status of its border security strategy. Nigerians deserve facts, not propaganda; results, not press briefings; protection, not excuses.
HURIWA insists that the continued failure to secure schools, communities, and borders represents an unacceptable breach of the social contract. If the state cannot guarantee the safety of children in schools, then it must confront the hard truth that it is failing in its most essential duty.
We issue this final warning: the Federal Government must, before the next 24 hours begin public disclosure of concrete, verifiable measures being taken to halt these mass abductions and secure the immediate release of all victims. Anything less will amount to continued administrative indifference in the face of national emergency.
Nigeria cannot survive on denial, delay, and deception while its children are hunted in classrooms.
A.I
May 18, 2026
Tags: HURIWA