Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom expressed concern about recent attacks and kidnapping of students in the country. Ortom spoke on Monday at his country house, Gbajimba, in Guma Local Government Area, during the virtual handing over and commissioning of a Government Science Secondary School built by some oil companies in the country, including Chevron, Famfa, Prime, and Equinor.
He said education remained the bedrock of growth and development of any nation, wondering why schools should be the target of criminals.
The governor lauded the oil companies for investing heavily in the education sector as part of their social responsibility policy. He pledged, on behalf of his government, that everything in its powers would be done to protect the facility and announced immediate perimeter fencing of the school.
The governor also decried the high number of internally displaced persons in the area and urged the federal government to do everything to ensure that the people returned to their homes.
He said, “I will not keep quiet and allow some group of people chase my people away from their homes and continue to make them IDPs. Gbajimba has over 500,000 IDPs. I appeal to the federal government to stop these herdsmen and declare them a terrorist group.
“They should stop the killing and destruction of our property. I will not engage any militia group but seek justice of my people.
“Security is a mandatory responsibility of every government. I want to appreciate the recent effort made by government in nipping insecurity in the bud, especially, in the state but it should be sustained.
“I also appreciate the effort of security agencies, who are sacrificing their lives to ensure peace in our state. The federal government should do massive recruitment and adequate funding of security agencies so that they can put in their best in securing the lives of Nigerians.”
