By Gabriel Dike
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has condemned the recent attack, kidnapping and the killing of a student bandits of Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Kaduna State.
The union tasked owners of tertiary institutions in the country to beef up security in public and private tertiary institutions.
ASUP President, Mr. Anderson Ezeibe, in statement made available to Daily Sun, said the union received reports of yet another attack on the campus of Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic Kaduna by bandits in the late hours of June 10th, 2021.
According to him, the attack is the third time within a space of one year that the polytechnic owned by the Kaduna State Government and located along the Kaduna Zaria Express way is being attacked by criminal elements leaving the polytechnic community in tears and sorrow with each attack.
Ezeibe said in the current incident, two academic staff and eight students were abducted while one student was killed in the attack.
”Our union had raised concerns over the porous nature of security of this institution after the previous attacks and specifically on the need to properly secure the institution as its location renders it vulnerable to such attacks. These appeals were not heeded by the Kaduna State Government thereby making staff and students of the polytechnic available for the pleasure of criminal elements.
”We therefore demand the unconditional release of the poor abducted staff and students who have ultimately become victims of the worsening socio-economic crises in the nation particularly as it affects security of lives and property, while tasking the security agencies in the state to live up to their responsibilities in this regard, ” Ezeibe pointed out.
ASUP tasked the Kaduna State government to ensure the provision of adequate security for the institution in the form of a perimeter fence and adequate security personnel to forestall future criminal activities in the institution as no form of productive academic activity can be carried out in such an atmosphere of fear which has been pervading the institution for sometime now.
Said he: ”Same responsibility also goes to proprietors of institutions of learning in the country (public and private) to provide adequate security for staff and students in the wake of this new found appetite of criminal elements to attack such educational institutions.”