Northern Women Leaders Sound Alarm on Security Collapse
A prominent coalition of Northern women leaders has issued a stark warning about Nigeria's deteriorating security situation, condemning the widespread closure of schools across northern states as counterproductive and damaging to children's education.
The Voices for Inclusion and Equity for Women (VIEW) expressed horror at what they described as Nigeria's deepening security collapse, emphasizing that the crisis has escalated beyond ordinary insecurity into full-blown terror.
Mass Abductions Trigger Panic Response
The security crisis intensified with two major school abductions within one week. On November 21, 2025, gunmen stormed St. Mary's Catholic School in Papiri, Agwarra local government, Niger State, seizing 315 students and teachers according to Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) officials.
This massive kidnapping came just days after another attack on November 17, 2025, when armed men abducted 25 girls from Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State.
Photographs distributed by Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, Chairman of CAN in Niger state, showed distraught relatives of the abducted children gathered in the courtyard of St. Mary's Catholic School, highlighting the human toll of these attacks.
Closures Called 'Surrender, Not Security'
VIEW sharply criticized the government's response of shutting down schools across Niger, Kebbi and other northern states, calling the move "panic, not protection."
In a strongly worded statement issued on Tuesday and signed by leading Northern advocates including Asmau Joda, Maryam Uwais, Mairo Mandara, Aisha Oyebode, Fatima Akilu, Kadaria Ahmed and Larai Ocheja Amusan, the coalition declared: "Instead of responding with strategy, urgency and courage, we are witnessing decisions that reflect panic rather than protection."
The women leaders emphasized that "the announcement that all schools in Niger and Kebbi States have been shut down, along with the closure of unity schools across the North, represents not security but surrender."
Educational Crisis Deepens for Northern Girls
The coalition highlighted the devastating impact of school closures on education, particularly for girls in Northern Nigeria. VIEW noted that "the North already carries the highest burden of female illiteracy in Nigeria," with cultural and economic barriers already limiting educational access.
"These sweeping school closures stifle their right to learn even further. Every shuttered classroom widens inequality; every child kept at home deepens fear. This is not protection; it is abandonment," the statement read.
The group warned that closing schools hands psychological victory to violent groups and "reinforces efforts, whether deliberate or through neglect, to keep northern girls uneducated and powerless."
Demands for Comprehensive Security Overhaul
VIEW demanded an immediate and proactive national response centered on:
- Intelligence-led rescue operations
- Transparent daily updates on security efforts
- Complete overhaul of Nigeria's security architecture
"Nigeria cannot continue this cycle of violence followed by retreat. Schools must be protected, not emptied," the coalition stressed, adding: "We reject policies that punish children for the State's failures. We reject the normalization of terror."
The women leaders urged the government to deploy "the full force of the State's protection" to safeguard schools, referencing Nigeria's grim history of school attacks from Chibok and Dapchi to Yauri and Jangebe.
Voices for Inclusion and Equity for Women (VIEW) operates across North Central, Northeast and Northwest Nigeria, dedicated to building equitable and just societies for women.
