TheCable

Parents of the kidnapped students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna state, have asked the federal government to rehabilitate their children.

In March, bandits attacked the college located in Igabi LGA and abducted the students, but 172 of them were rescued, leaving 39 in captivity.

Out of the 39 abducted students, 10 had earlier regained their freedom. The remaining students were released on Wednesday after seven weeks in captivity.

In a statement on Thursday, jointly signed by Abdullahi Usman and Catherine Saleh, chairman and secretary of the forum of affected parents, they said the federal government needs to pursue a safe schooling agenda that will encourage parents to send their children back to school.

Usman added that one of the parents, Malam Ibrahim, died as a result of trauma over the abduction of his daughter.

“The journey is not yet over because our children will definitely require rehabilitation to overcome the trauma that accompanies such ugly experiences,” the parents said.

“We call on the government to get more serious and aggressively pursue safe schooling as a pertinent agenda so as to give parents the confidence to send their children to school, because if the schools remain as porous as they now are, many may not find it worth the trouble to enroll their children in schools anymore.

“We are grateful that we did not leave any stone unturned on the path to where we have arrived today. We most especially register our immense gratitude to former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Abubakar Abdulsalami, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi and the Provost of the College, Dr Usman, for the various roles they played in securing the release of our children.

“We appreciate immensely the students and staff of the institution for their relentless solidarity.”