Astitch in time saves nine. This statement should indeed be tailormade for the University of Maiduguri, in this critical and challenging hour of its existence. For some time now, it has been a testy time for the institution as it becomes a subject of attack for the Boko Haram sect, which has formed the habit of venturing to hit the citadel.
About 10 bombs by suspected Boko Haram sect members had been detonated in the university environs in less than a month. The sect is still unrelenting in its threats and attacks, keeping the staff and students in perpetual fear and trauma. Penultimate week when the JAMBÂ examination took place in the four centres in the university, the institution experienced at least three attacks from the suicide bombers. So far, the bomb blasts in and within the institution have claimed the lives of a professor, the bombers themselves, some security personnel and some soldiers.
The recent persistent attack by the suicide bombers on the University has been a thing of concern to many. This is because in the heat of the Boko Haram assault on the Northeast, the institution was initially quiet due to the eagle-eye security measure put in place by the institution’s management. As a matter of fact, lately, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi was recognized by the Federal Government through an award for this feat: keeping the university alive throughout the trying period, in spite of the onslaught of the insurgency.
Even about a month back, the university held a lecture to unveil how it was able to steer the ship safely throughout the turbulent times of the insurgency.
However, whether by design, coincidence or default, it was after the recognition of the vice chancellor by the Federal Government for keeping the University alive in the heat of the insurgency as well as a lecture organised by the university in relation to this, that the Boko Haram sect bore its fangs on the institution, causing mayhem and murdering its much-needed peace. What point is the sect trying to make? This is the puzzling question being asked by many. However, the management of the University continues to keep tap on the entire community assuring all that the University is secured. The latest of such assurance came from the Pro Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University, Professor Abiodun Adesanya, who was in Maiduguri. While assuring the staff and students of their safety, the chairman called on the Federal Government to consider as a matter of urgency, the building of perimeter fence round the University, to enhance the security of the institution.
The University of Maiduguri with a population of about 30,000, made up of staff and students, is a catchment institution, mostly, for the Northeast zone. It is located in Jere Local Government Council of Borno State and has borders with Mafa and Konduga Local Government Councils, all in Borno State.
It would be recalled that at the heat of the of Boko Haram war against western civilization and its formal education, some educational institutions in the Northeast became casualties. For example, the insurgents attacked Federal Government College, Buni Yadi where they slaughtered 29 students on February 24, 2014; Yobe Government College of Agriculture, Gujba (October 2014) where 50 students were murdered, and Government Secondary School, Mamudo, where 24 pupils and an Arabic teacher were slaughtered.
Terrible as these incidents and other atrocities of the sect were, the one that brought the Boko Haram tragedy into global attention was the abduction of the over 200 Chibok School Girls writing the 2014 West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) Senior Secondary School’s final examinations. The incident exposed the extreme to which the group could go in achieving its unholy objectives. It also revealed the level of preparedness of Nigeria’s security agencies in containing the 21st century demon.
So far, over 100,000 souls have been wasted by the insurgents, forcing on the nation, about two million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and destroying public and private infrastructure worth about two trillion naira.
At this juncture, it is imperative to take the call by the management of the University for the construction of a perimeter fence round the institution a serious one. This should not be treated with levity or with a wave of the hand.
Let it be made abundantly clear that if, owing to negligence, default, an error of omission or commission, the sect is allowed to invade or take over an inch of UNIMAID territory, this is not only the height of impunity, but a dangerous aspersion on the legitimacy of the Federal Government of Nigeria to protect its citizens. Such feat of the sect will erode completely, the people’s honour and respect for the present administration with regard to the prosecution of war against insurgency.
Let us take a lesson from the slip-shod approach of the erstwhile administration in the handling of the insurgency, which brought us today, to this sorry pass.
Izekor, a journalist and public affairs analyst, writes at the Pointing.com
