Affordable education push facing security test in South West

The South West has become the latest epicentre of an escalated wave of insecurity, including banditry, kidnapping for ransom, and farmer-herder conflicts, fueling concerns that a region once regarded as a safe haven has slowly fallen from grace. The greatest casualty of this shift, challenging regional stability are children barely enough to decide or defend themselves.

The recent turn of events in the last five days has become a major source of concern for residents, community leaders, stakeholders and security experts nationwide.

On May 15, 2026, twin kidnap cases happened on the same day.

42 pupils were abducted by Boko Haram terrorists from Government Day Secondary School and Mussa Central Primary School in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State.

Mohammed Ali Ndume, senator representing Borno South at the National Assembly, confirming the incident, said that 28 pupils were taken from the primary section, four students from Government Day Secondary School, and 10 other children from their homes last Friday.

While parents were reeling from the trauma, suspected armed bandits carried out a coordinated attack on three schools across the Ahoro-Esinele and Yawota communities in the Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, in which no fewer than 45 pupils, alongside their teachers, were abducted from schools in Oriire Local Government Area on Friday.

The affected schools include Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; Community Grammar School, Esiele; and L.A. Primary School, Ahoro-Esinele.

The bandits reportedly attacked the Community High School, Ahoro-Esinele, between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. on Friday.

It was gathered that the attackers stormed the school premises, whisked away students, teachers, including the school’s vice principal, Rachael Alamu.

Read also: Gunmen kidnap 2 staff of CRIN, police arrest two suspects

In a deeply distressing development, abductors beheaded one of the captured teachers, Michael Oyedokun, and circulated graphic footage of the murder online.

A viral video showing the beheading of one of the teacher has further heightened public anger and grief across the country.

This alarming trend has prompted massive outcries from both federal and local authorities, driving urgent demands for reinforced regional security measures.

Speaking during a session at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, President Bola Tinubu defended his economic reforms and emphasised that his administration is supporting education for vulnerable students who would ordinarily stay out of school due to unaffordable fees.

As the federal government pushes to make education more affordable and accessible, growing insecurity and the rising wave of school children kidnappings continue to threaten learning across the country.

Data from Save the Children in 2025 indicates that at least 10 school kidnappings took place across Nigeria in less than two years, affecting about 670 children, in a worsening school-safety crisis that has put the lives and well-being of students at grave risk.

In March 2024, one major attack led to 287 students and a teacher being kidnapped in Kaduna State.

In October 2025, at least 325 children and staff were kidnapped in two school attacks, highlighting the extreme vulnerability of students and schools.

Reports of repeated school attacks amid ongoing insecurity point to a growing threat to school children’s safety.

Fears of attacks are stopping some children from ever attending school.

“Around 19 million children in Nigeria (27 percent) do not attend due to the threat of kidnappings, poverty, and cultural factors, one of the highest numbers in the world,” Save the Children data indicates.

The insecure situation has equally began to stoke fear that the South West is the new frontier of unsafety after years of that tag being zoned to the north. It also raised the need for state policing as many states have been crumbling under the waves of banditry, kidnapping and terrorism recently.

Following the security breaches, the Oyo State Government, in collaboration with the Oyo police command, quickly inaugurated the Oyo State Police Command’s Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU) and the oversight committee.

The inauguration was held at the Police Command, Eleyele, Ibadan. The governor, who described the initiative as the first of its kind in the South-West region of the country, noted that it reflected the collective determination of government and security agencies to ensure the safety of lives and property across the state.

Read also: Oyo Govt. confirms 32 pupils, students, teachers kidnapped

He lauded the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, while he also appreciated all the security agencies in the state for their efforts in keeping the state safe, expressing optimism that the Violent Crime Response Unit would succeed in its mandate of combating violent crimes and ensuring lasting peace, safety and stability in Oyo State and Nigeria as a whole.

Oyo Govt. sets up operational situation room

Makinde revealed that the state government had established an operational situation room at the Oyo State Police Command headquarters to coordinate rescue efforts and provide verified information to the public.

“We have set up an operational centre at the police headquarters here. So the Commissioner of Police will be in a situation room and positioned to give the required information,” he added.

Surveillance Aircraft already at the Nigerian Air Force hangar in Lagos

On security reinforcement, the governor confirmed that the surveillance aircraft procured by the state government had already arrived Nigeria and was currently being assembled at the Nigerian Air Force hangar in Lagos.

Read also: Police begins forensic probe into Oyo school abduction video

“The surveillance aircraft has arrived in the country. As of today, they are at the Nigerian Air Force hangar in Lagos, being reassembled. The manufacturers from China arrived about three days ago, and they will need roughly two weeks to complete the work.

“I can say conclusively that those surveillance aircraft will be in operation on or before the end of June,” the governor stated.

He explained that the aircraft were procured proactively to monitor border communities between Oyo and neighbouring states, as well as the international border with the Republic of Benin.

“We were proactive. We wanted to cover the borderline between our state and Kwara State, and also the international border between our state and the Republic of Benin, though we did not anticipate this particular incident,” he said

Suspected local informants working with terrorists arrested – Makinde

Governor Seyi Makinde revealed that suspected local informants working with terrorists were behind the abduction of teachers and pupils in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.

Makinde made this known after a high-level security review meeting with security advisers and service commanders over the attack that occurred at Ahoro Esinle Community in Oriire Local Government Area.

“We just finished a review of the security situation in the local government area where the abduction of some teachers and schoolchildren took place. First, let me appeal to the families involved that their government is working around the clock to tackle this challenge.

The security agencies, he pointed out, had already recorded some breakthroughs in the ongoing operation, with several suspects arrested within the affected community.

“From the information available from the Commissioner of Police, about six individuals have been arrested within the locality. Some of them, we believe, are informants or people handling logistics for the terrorists. Also, three other persons of interest have been arrested by another security outfit in the state,” he stated.

Makinde explained that the government had adopted both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches in addressing the crisis, stressing that while security forces were actively pursuing the abductors, efforts were also being made through other channels to secure the victims’ release without further casualties.

While saying that the state government was working round the clock to rescue the seven abducted teachers and an unconfirmed number of pupils kidnapped during the incident, he assured residents that every available strategy was being deployed to ensure the safe return of the victims.

“We are not taking this situation lightly. We understand the anger and concern among our people, especially leaders and residents in Oriire Local Government.

“But we must recognise that this is a challenging situation. There may not be quick fixes, but we will continue to push ourselves to the limit to resolve it quickly and safely,” he added.

On the growing threat of terrorist movements into southern states, Makinde said sustained military pressure against bandits and terrorists in the North-West and North-East had forced many criminal elements to migrate southward.

He disclosed that his administration was already engaging neighbouring states, including Kwara State, on collaborative security measures aimed at preventing the infiltration of criminal groups into Oyo State.

“The governor of Kwara State has spoken with me. When terrorists face pressure in one region, they tend to move elsewhere. So, we must strengthen our security architecture to repel or neutralise such threats before they gain ground,” Makinde said.

The incursion has sparked widespread alarm across the South West. Leaders like Yoruba activist Iba Gani Adams and traditional hunters are demanding emergency security meetings and active deployment of local vigilante networks in the forest

Likewise, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) said the gruesome attack and abductions in the three schools have exposed Nigeria’s worsening security failure, advocating for an emergency meeting of the National Security Council to tackle escalating attacks on schools and rural communities across the country.
Francis Wale Oke, Bishop and the PFN President, said the horrifying incident had become a national symbol of the country’s insecurity and the inability of authorities to protect citizens.

The fellowship accused the Federal Government of failing Nigerians despite repeated assurances on security, particularly the safety of schoolchildren.

“Each new incident is an indictment of the Federal Government, and it exposes the failure of those assurances. Most disgraceful is the continued abduction of pupils across the country. No child should be forced to live in fear,” the statement stated.

The PFN said it watched with shock and outrage the viral video allegedly released by the attackers showing Oyedokun bound, humiliated and eventually beheaded.

“Our hearts are bleeding. We watched with horror the video released by the perpetrators, showing our brother, a devoted educator, bound, humiliated and beheaded. This is not merely a heinous crime; it is a sacrilege against the sanctity of life, an assault on the teaching vocation and a direct attack on the future of our nation,” Bishop Oke stated.