ONELIFE INITIATIVE CALLS ON OYO STATE GOVERNMENT TO IMPLEMENT URGENT SCHOOL SAFETY STANDARDS FOLLOWING ABDUCTION OF 39 CHILDREN

IBADAN, OYO STATE — Onelife Initiative, a youth-serving organisation committed to advocating for quality education delivery and financing, is urgently calling on the Oyo State government to establish enforceable safety standards for all schools, particularly in border and high-risk communities across the state. Through innovative, gender-responsive, and inclusive methods, our mission is to guarantee access to improved learning in safe environments where the security of school children is absolutely non-negotiable.

The Crisis: Mass School Kidnapping in Oyo State

Recently, news of the shocking school abduction in Nigeria involving 39 children and four teachers taken directly from their classrooms shook the entire state. This devastating incident has caused widespread panic and fear among students, parents, and community members, forcing multiple schools to shut down and compelling residents to flee the places they once called home.

Twenty days have now passed since the incident. Despite the agonizing cries of local residents, active protests by citizens across the state, and a massive wave of online solidarity demanding local security updates, no decisive action has been taken. Affected community members have received nothing short of empty government assurances.

Demands for the Safe Schools Initiative in Nigeria

We are deeply saddened by this severe security failure. As an organisation, our foundational advocacy is centered on securing safe schools for children, especially girls.

To ensure education delivery does not completely collapse under the threat of terror, Given the current crisis, we are expanding our mandate to demand immediate, uncompromising school safety protocols in every vulnerable location across Nigeria. We are actively campaigning for the government to execute the following actions:

• Provide Immediate Infrastructure: Allocate immediate funding for perimeter fencing and secure entry points in all public schools.
• Ensure Safe Re-enrolment: Create targeted security guarantees so that displaced children, particularly vulnerable girls, can safely return to the classroom.
• Guarantee Free, Safe, and Compulsory Education: Protect the fundamental right to education by ensuring that proximity to border areas does not equal a vulnerability to terror.

A Call for Joint State and Federal Government Accountability

A new wave of fear has now gripped parents in these insecure areas. Many who historically kept their children out of school due to socio-economic barriers—and who were finally considering enrolling them for the first time—may now completely abort the idea out of fear that their children will be abducted.

We need our government to stand up, take absolute accountability, and not abandon these vulnerable communities to terror and neglect while the future of our children hangs in the balance. This crisis is not just a state burden; the federal government must intervene immediately, especially since the primary apparatus for national security lies in their hands.