Some Nigerians have taken to their twitter handles and slammed the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, over the statement he made, saying the United State and other developed countries also experience school kidnapping.
Some Nigerian has described such comment from the Minister as “unfortunate, unreasonable and nauseating.”
Lai Mohammed on Monday while featuring on Channels Television’s ‘News Night’, had said “Even in the most developed countries of this world, school kidnapping takes place. Last year, in the US, we all witnessed three or four school kidnappings, and that is in probably one of the most developed countries in the world.
“The thing about terrorism is that the terrorists don’t live by your own rules and they are especially interested in soft targets. They know that what is going to get global attention is kidnapping school children.
“We must be careful; we can’t turn all our schools into barracks. What is important is intelligence gathering, surveillance rather than the physical presence of the soldiers or policemen.
Reacting to this, former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has also described the statement by the Information Minister as “Soulless statement.”
She wrote on her verified twitter handle “Imagine. Yet another soulless statement that should not be heard from anyone in Public Leadership. The cries of #ChibokGirls and parents, #LeahSharibu and parents #KagaraStudents and parents are judging this statement daily.”
Also, Nigerians have expressed the displeasure in the statement of Mohammed.
One Omole tweeted “I find the statement credited to Alhaji Lai Mohammed most unfortunate, unreasonable and nauseating. Since according to him kidnapping students is globally fashionable, I wish he should desire one of his loved one to be kidnapped.”
@Adeoluwa, “How did we get here? APC egbekegbe party. To all those who received 500 naira in 2019, how far? The ones they gave 1 pack of indomie and salt with 500 naira, hope you are still eating it? We are our problem, not Lai Mohammed!”
Another tweeted that “Lai Mohammed is probably mistaking Niger, Borno, Zamfara, Taraba, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe States are independent & developed countries.”
“The fact that it happens in more advance societies doesn';t makes it right and a norm Oga do the needful don';t use comparison to justify your poor performance let the needful be done,” David Wealth wrote.
One Amanda stated that “I have 3 questions for this man: 1. Through which lens did he see this happening in most developed countries? 2. Name those "developed" countries. 3. If present, how often do you hear about it? Please proof is required with research. Then, tell us why it should happen here.
Alex, as well tweeted “When you use a negative yardstick to determine your performance, you’ve settled for mediocrity. Why doesn’t he talk about ways to solve the problem rather than accepting it as normal? Our leaders are vastly incompetent.