The police command in Lagos says it has begun 24-hour surveillance of public schools in the state to prevent the mass abduction of schoolchildren.

The Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Hakeem Odumosu, according to Vanguard, disclosed this on Wednesday.

Earlier this month, the Lagos government told Peoples Gazette that it had mounted “constant surveillance” on public schools.

But the Lagos Commissioner for Education, Folashade Adefisayo, had told Peoples Gazette that the government was not under any illusions that its public schools were impenetrable.

“We are working with the Police Command in the State, and the schools are under constant surveillance,” Ms Adefisayo had said.  

Many schools in the North-East and the North-West have been shut down because of bandits attacking schools and kidnapping schoolchildren.

Mr Odumosu stated that the police had established a synergy with stakeholders to improve schools’ existing security structures and forestall any form of attack.

“The command has designed an ‘Operation Order’ to cater for the deployment of personnel, surveillance, patrol and strict monitoring of schools and students’ activities across the state, in its bid to provide adequate security for both public and private schools in Lagos state,” said Mr Odumosu.

On protecting farmlands, Mr Odumosu stated that the force is working with the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that all farmers are issued permits.

He explained, “The surveillance will be extended to farmlands. Unfortunately, some of them are located in rural areas that are not motorable. 

“So, we have discussed with the Ministry of Agriculture that all farms must have government permits, as most of them are just farming without letting the government know what they are doing. 

“It makes it difficult to provide security for them.”

Between December 2020 and March 2021, bandits abducted hundreds of schoolboys and schoolgirls across Katsina, Niger, and Zamfara. The bandits freed the students after they received ransoms, though the governments denied any payment.

In the past, Lagos has had its fair share of schoolchildren abductions as militants besieged the state, wreaking havoc on its outskirts.

Gunmen, on February 29, 2016, abducted pupils of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary in Ikorodu.

Later that year, on October 6, assailants described as militants attacked Igbonla Model College in Epe, abducting the school’s vice principal, teacher, and pupils.

Again, in May 2017, the Epe school was attacked by gunmen, abducting pupils and staff.