Kwara Shuts Schools in Four LGAs, Seeks Military Base After Deadly Bandit Attack
Kwara State government has ordered the immediate closure of schools across four local government areas, Isin, Irepodun, Ifelodun, and Ekiti, citing escalating security threats in the region.
The directive was communicated via a circular from the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Kwara State, with the union’s chairman, Yusuf Agboola, confirming that the Ministry of Education issued the order “following fresh security threats.”
Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, in response to a recent bandit attack on a church in Eruku, Ekiti LGA, where three worshippers were killed and over 35 people abducted, has called for stronger security infrastructure.
He said he has already held talks with military and police leadership to establish a Forward Operating Base for the Nigerian Army in Eruku, and a mobile police squadron to boost safety in the area.
Residents of the affected local governments have expressed deep concern over the sudden school closures, emphasizing that the insecurity is not new.
In parts of Kwara, entire villages are now largely abandoned, with families fleeing due to repeated kidnapping and bandit attacks.
Kwara’s Education Commissioner, Lawal Olohungbebe, has said that schools will remain shut until security agencies declare the situation safe for resumption.
This move reflects growing urgency among state officials to strengthen security presence in vulnerable communities and address what many see as a widening banditry crisis in southern Kwara.