……Demand Protection from Govt
By Ikeugonna Eleke
Students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University have expressed worry over what they described as the increasing cases of kidnapping involving students in and outside their residential areas in Awka.
The students who spoke during a Media and Students Summit, organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Enugu Field Office and UNIZIK FM, urged government and authorities of the institution to tighten security, especially in off campus residences of students.
The summit which held at the university auditorium was to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Abduction of the Chibok Girls in Borno State, in North East of Nigeria.
Students who contributed during the summit said: ‘We are living in fear and always sleeping with one eye open because of the frequent incidents of abduction.
‘The insecurity around the campus is even making many of us to be losing concentration in our studies and our parents are always entertaining fears that we are living in fear.’
They observed that a 200 level student was still missing, just few days after another student, Francisca Chioma, who was abducted on her way to a burial, was released.
Chief Security Officer of the university, Mr. Ken Chukwurah, who was also a participant at the summit, gave students some security tips, observing that the unique problem of UNIZIK was that most of the students resided outside the campus, thereby making it difficult to fully monitor their hostels.
He said: ‘If you must travel to go and see someone you have not met before, ensure that two of you meet in a public place. Always tell people where you are going to and who you are going to see. You must also learn some tricks on how you can defend yourselves in case of any attack.
‘More than 90 percent of UNIZIK students live outside the university, and the problem it creates is that most times, those students feel that it is the responsibility of the school management to operate their security there.
‘That may even be the reason many of you call us even at midnight when something goes wrong in the off campus hostels.
‘In spite of the fact that the properties (sic) you are occupying belong to private people, we still ensure your safety and that is why I can pick your calls even at odd hours to know the situation of things there,’ he said.
