The Federal Capital Territory Administration has ordered all public senior secondary schools in Abuja to close by Friday, November 28, citing pressing security concerns.
The Cable reported that a memo released on Tuesday by the director of school services at the FCT Secondary Education Board, Aishatu Sani Alhassan, directed principals and heads of schools to halt academic activities immediately and ensure students are dismissed “in an orderly and safe manner.”
The memo is titled: URGENT NEED FOR EARLY CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS DUE TO SECURITY CONCERNS.
School authorities have been instructed to inform students, staff, and parents about the closure, adjust scheduled academic programs, and prepare to reopen on the next official school day unless further instructions are issued.
The notice stressed that all school leaders should treat it as “important and urgent.”
The directive comes amid a spate of attacks on educational institutions across Nigeria. On November 12, the federal government ordered all unity schools nationwide to close following violent incidents in Kebbi and Niger states.
On that day, 25 female students were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi state.
According to the BBC, two of the girls managed to escape while being led into the bushes by their captors, crossing farmland to freedom, as confirmed by Hussaini Aliyu, an official from Danko Wasagu LGA.
Further incidents followed, including the abduction of several students and staff from St. Mary’s School in Papiri, Agwara LGA, Niger state.
The Catholic Diocese of Kotangora reported that 315 people, 303 students and 12 teachers, were kidnapped from the school on November 21.
