By DAYO ADESULU
Former minister says mass abductions prove institutions have collapsed
A former Minister of Education and co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls Movement, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has delivered one of her strongest indictments yet on the Nigerian state, warning that the country’s deepening insecurity and the recurring abductions of schoolchildren are symptoms of a much larger governance collapse driven by corruption.
In a detailed post shared on Monday through her X handle, Ezekwesili argued that Nigeria’s insecurity crisis is rooted in what she described as “cancerous, systemic corruption” that has eaten away the nation’s core institutions, rendering them unable to perform even the most basic responsibilities.
According to her, years of unchecked graft have hollowed out the military, weakened the judiciary, and degraded the wider public sector, leaving millions of citizens vulnerable.
“Institutions have become compromised and impotent”
Ezekwesili said Nigeria’s security architecture is now incapable of tackling violent crime because the values on which critical institutions were built have been eroded.
“Endemic corruption gradually ate up the very values on which they were founded and rendered them the impotent institutions we now know,” she wrote.
She stressed that repeated warnings about the consequences of ignoring governance failures were dismissed for years, and the outcome is the Nigeria’s insecurity crisis currently unfolding across multiple states.
Mass abductions continue as the country reels
Citing data from UNICEF and Save the Children, Ezekwesili highlighted a disturbing pattern that predates recent national attention. Between 2014 and 2022, she noted that more than 1,680 students were abducted in 70 separate school attacks. The trend accelerated with another 816 students kidnapped in 22 attacks between 2023 and November 2025.
These figures, she said, show that Nigeria has learned nothing from the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in 2014 — the event that pushed school insecurity into global consciousness.
After more than a decade of advocacy, Ezekwesili admitted that simple outrage “no longer feels adequate,” insisting that the continuing cycle of kidnappings goes beyond security lapses and now reflects the complete failure of state responsibility.
“These children are hostages of failure — not just terrorists”
In one of the most searing parts of her statement, Ezekwesili said the abducted children are victims of leaders who refuse to take their duty seriously.
“The latest group of abducted children are not just hostages of terrorists; they are hostages of the unforgivable failure of governments and a political class that refuse to be moved, and to a people whose empathy has been steadily eroded,” she wrote.
She argued that Nigeria’s insecurity crisis has now crossed into the territory of state collapse because the government can no longer guarantee the safety of children — the most basic function of sovereignty.
“Deliberate negligence is a crime”
Ezekwesili rejected any claim that the government is still “learning,” noting that a decade has passed since Chibok. According to her, no administration can claim ignorance after ten years of repeated attacks following the same pattern.
“What we have is deliberate negligence, and deliberate negligence is a crime,” she said, insisting that a government that fails to rescue abducted children or secure its schools cannot claim legitimacy.
She concluded with a stark message that many Nigerians have echoed in recent weeks: “Enough said.”
A nation struggling to protect its future
Ezekwesili’s latest intervention adds to the mounting pressure on the Federal Government as kidnappings spike across the North-West and North-Central regions. Security analysts warn that unless structural reforms begin, the crisis could deepen, and schools in several states may remain closed indefinitely.
Her remarks underscore the growing fear among parents, educators, and community leaders that Nigeria is losing its ability to protect the next generation — a reality that continues to shape the national debate on governance, security, and accountability.
