Education is the most reliable investment any government can make in its people yet recent developments in Kogi State raise a troubling question. Is the state choosing school closures over the harder task of securing learning environments? As insecurity spreads across parts of Nigeria the response of government reveals its priorities and nowhere is this more evident than in how it treats its schools.
Across several communities fear has replaced certainty Parents worry each morning whether sending their children to school is a risk. Teachers work under anxiety and students struggle to learn in environments shaped by rumours of bandits, Bokoharam and neglect. When schools are shut or abandoned the message sent is subtle but dangerous that education is expendable when governance becomes inconvenient.
In other federations facing similar threats governments doubled down on protection rather than withdrawal. In parts of the United States and the United Kingdom school safety is treated as a public obligation requiring collaboration funding and accountability. Schools are not closed because danger exists, they are secured because the future depends on them.
Kogi State cannot afford a different logic. Education is already under pressure from poverty, teacher shortages and decaying infrastructure. Adding insecurity without a clear security strategy compounds the damage. A government that hesitates to invest in protecting schools risks raising a generation locked out of opportunity and civic participation.
Security in education is not merely about armed presence. It involves intelligence community engagement, safe transport systems and early warning mechanisms. It requires political will, budgetary commitment and transparency. These are choices governments make not accidents imposed by fate.
The future of Kogi State will not be shaped by roads alone or slogans alone but by whether its children can learn without fear. If schools are allowed to close quietly the cost will be paid loudly in years to come. The question before the state is simple. Will it retreat from education or rise to defend it
– Inah Boniface Ocholi writes from Ayah – Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi state.
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