LET TEACHERS BREATHE
By L. Adewale Jimoh- Atoba, Ph.D.
waleatoba11@gmail.com
Obaagun
Friday, May 15, 2026, was a black Friday for the people of Esiele community in Oriire LGA, Oyo State, in southern Nigeria, when unwanted visitors quietly visited Community Grammar School, Baptist Nursery and Primary School and L.A. Primary School. They came not to steal tables and chairs or textbooks, but to steal innocent people: teachers and pupils. The kidnappers herded away 46 people, the pillars of our future.
Notable among the abducted was a vibrant problem-solver, a mathematics teacher. According to a well-circulated online video, the teacher was reportedly forced to plead for his life before his abductor allegedly killed him in a dehumanizing manner.
I commend President Bola Tinubu for his swift response to the incident. He condemned it and called it uncivilized, although condemnation is not synonymous with protection. Surely, grief is not safety. It is high time governments at all levels ended the killings. It is time to let Nigerian teachers breathe.
School kidnappings began with headlines about the Chibok girls and later the Kankara boys. Thus, the plight of students should be prioritized without compromising the fate of teachers.
In the latest Oyo attack, the victims are not just civil servants. They are the architects of the next generation. Yet they are now soft targets because of the porous nature of school environments in Nigeria.
The Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, has repeatedly raised the alarm over the persistent abduction of teachers. It warned that continuous kidnapping is pushing the education system to the brink of total collapse.
In raids in Kebbi and Niger states, teachers were killed while protecting students. What a heinous act. In Oyo State, teachers were kidnapped and killed simply for showing up to teach.
If teachers are not safe in classrooms, we cannot produce a generation of critical thinkers. Society will continue to produce a generation of trauma victims.
The NUT has said that if this continues, it will direct members across the state to stay home. Can we blame them? No. How can you teach profit and loss, grammar or equations when colleagues are being kidnapped, killed or held for ransom?
Attackers exploit porous security. Schools, particularly in rural communities, lack fencing, surveillance and armed guards. Kidnappers have turned it into a lucrative business. Teachers, once seen as low-value targets, are now targeted with students to maximize bargaining power with bandits.
Another factor is system failure. The government launched the Safe Schools Initiative years ago with millions of dollars in global funds, but implementation has been abysmal. Is it a burden for government to implement or sustain policy in Nigeria? That is a rhetorical question.
It is now the duty of government to end the kidnapping and killing of teachers and students in Nigeria by taking immediate action:
Secure the perimeter: The federal and Oyo State governments must deploy technology such as drones, trackers and intelligence, focusing on schools in forested border areas.
Shift from performative responses to results-driven interventions: Actions speak louder than words. The Inspector General of Police must follow through on his pledge to move toward tech-driven operations for the Oyo victims. Mr. IGP, Nigerians await a breakthrough.
Value teachers: The country must treat the murder of a teacher with the same outrage as the murder of any other citizen.
Nigerian teachers are tired. They are tired of poor pay and strikes, and now of running for their lives. The Oyo case is a red line. If kidnapping and killing of teachers becomes normalized, we are signing the death warrant of the Nigerian dream.
Therefore, allow teachers to breathe and bring them home safely. Secure our schools before no one is left to teach the next generation to read and write. Would this not be a disaster for the country?
