Lai Mohammed: School kidnapping takes place in US, other developed countries

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says the kidnapping of students is not a peculiar crime to Nigeria, adding that the most developed countries of the world including the United States also experience school kidnapping.

Mohammed stated this on Monday while featuring on Channels Television’s ‘News Night’ monitored by The PUNCH.

The minister also insisted that the government would not pay ransom to secure the release of the abducted students and members of staff of Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. He added that the government was employing kinetic and non-kinetic means to ensure the release of the abductees.

Mohammed said, “Even in the most developed countries of this world, school kidnapping takes place. Last year, in the US, we all witnessed three of four school kidnappings, and that is in probably one of the most developed countries in the world.

“The thing about terrorism is that the terrorists don’t live by your own rules and they are especially interested in soft targets. They know that what is going to get global attention is kidnapping school children.

“We must be careful; we can’t turn all our schools into barracks. What is important is intelligence gathering, surveillance rather than the physical presence of the soldiers or policemen.

“We are dealing with people who don’t think like me and you, we are dealing with people who don’t have any rules of engagement, we are dealing with people whose motivation is completely different from mine and yours. And anywhere in the world, this is how terrorists operate but the most important thing is to learn from what is happening and adapt.”

The PUNCH had reported that some students and staff of Kagara were kidnapped when bandits stormed the school last Wednesday. A student was also reportedly killed by the bandits during the attack. Punch