For three months, classrooms across Kwara South Senatorial District have remained empty. Desks gather dust, blackboards stand unmarked, and the laughter of children has been replaced by an eerie silence that speaks volumes about a region under siege.
Since November 2025, thousands of students in five local government areas — Ifelodun, Ekiti, Irepodun, Isin, and Oke-Ero — have been locked out of schools as the Kwara State Government battles a spiraling security crisis that has exposed deep fault lines in governance and raised uncomfortable questions about priorities.
The latest chapter in this educational nightmare came on January 20, 2026, when the state government ordered the immediate closure of the Kwara State College of Education, Oro, citing “worsening security threats” in an internal memo signed by the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Hajia Saadatu Kawu.
But for many in Kwara South, the closure represents more than a temporary safety measure. It symbolizes what they describe as systematic marginalization, policy inconsistency, and a government that appears more interested in collecting market taxes than securing the future of its children.
The anger in the voice of Sheikh Dr. Taofiq Sanusi, the Chief Imam of Oro, is palpable. Speaking about the prolonged school closures, the religious leader didn’t mince words.
“I am even confused where we are heading in Kwara state,” Imam Sanusi lamented. “We did Otoge political movement, we did Osuwa movement, thinking the state would move better, nothing changes.”
His frustration echoes that of thousands of parents and community leaders who watched their children’s education disrupted indefinitely while economic activities believed to pose security risks continue unhindered.
“The future of our children in Kwara South is at risk because of what is happening currently,” the Imam said. “In the whole of Kwara state today, there are reports of bandits, some Boko Haram members too, but why is it that it is only children from Kwara South that are being denied education?”
The cleric’s most damning accusation, however, was reserved for what he described as a glaring double standard in the government’s response to the crisis.
“This was not how the government approached the issue of Kara markets when they announced that they should be closed over alleged links with banditry,” Imam Sanusi noted. “That order did not last for more than a day before it was reversed.”
“The same people who opened Kara market so as to enable them collect taxes now find it comfortable to shut down schools against our children,” he added, his words dripping with bitter irony.
The Bloody Trigger: When Worship Turned to Carnage
The current wave of school closures traces its roots to a night of horror that Eruku, a boundary town in Ekiti Local Government Area, will never forget.
On the evening of November 18, 2025, gunmen stormed the Christ Apostolic Church, Oke Isegun, during a thanksgiving service. The congregation had gathered to celebrate the release of 18 kidnap victims freed just a week earlier — not knowing that danger lurked in the darkness outside.
The attack was swift and brutal. By the time the shooting stopped, three worshippers lay dead, and over 35 church members had been marched into the forest at gunpoint. The tragedy was made worse by what residents described as a shocking failure by security forces.
Adesuyi Joshua, whose wife and granddaughter were among those abducted, recounted the nightmare: “They took my wife and our granddaughter, who were in the church, along with about 30 other people. At first, we thought the gunshots were knockouts, but the sound changed. By the time we mobilised ourselves to confront the attackers, it was too late.”
Even more troubling was his accusation against the police: “We have soldiers around this place. We also have a police station, but nothing was done throughout the attack. When we were pursuing the bandits, the police started shooting from their gate. We thought it was the bandits again. When we got to the station, they tear-gassed us and allowed the attackers to escape.”
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The attack triggered immediate action from the state government. Within 48 hours, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, acting on instructions from the Ministry of Education, announced the indefinite closure of all schools in Isin, Irepodun, Ifelodun, and Ekiti local government areas.
A Pattern of Neglect
For Iyiola Akogun Esq., a prominent legal practitioner from Kwara South, the school closures are symptomatic of a deeper malaise. “The painful shutdown of the Oke Ode School of Nursing and the persistent neglect and now looming threat facing the College of Education, Oro, reveal a troubling and undeniable pattern of abandonment in Kwara South,” Akogun was quoted by newspaper reports.
“These are not isolated occurrences,” the lawyer stressed. “They are symptoms of a deeper and more dangerous problem: political silence, weak advocacy, and a culture of fear among those who ought to speak boldly and act decisively in defence of the people.”
Akogun issued a stark warning against accepting marginalization as fate: “Kwara South must not continue to accept marginalisation as fate or destiny. When vital institutions are allowed to decay, relocate, or shut down without resistance, the future of our youth is deliberately compromised.”
His words carried a challenging question for regional leaders: “When opposition voices are weakened, decimated, or silenced; when leaders and followers all eat comfortably from the same pot of soup, who then stands up for the people when things begin to go wrong?”
The Cost of Prolonged Closure
Three months away from school represents more than just lost learning time. For students preparing for critical examinations like the West African Senior School Certificate Examinationand the National Examination Council exams, it could mean the difference between progressing to the next level of education and being left behind.
Many teachers have also expressed fear that the prolonged closure could lead to increased dropout rates, especially among families already struggling with economic hardship.
“Some of these children may never return to school,” one secondary school teacher from Irepodun Local Government lamented. “Their parents will find other things for them to do — farm work, trading, early marriage. Once they’re out of school for this long, it becomes harder to bring them back.”
The psychological impact on students is equally concerning. Educational psychologists warn that prolonged disruption to learning creates anxiety, diminishes academic motivation, and can have lasting effects on children’s cognitive development and social skills.
Government Defends Decision
The Kwara State Government has maintained that the school closures are temporary and necessary to protect lives.
In the memo ordering the closure of the College of Education, Oro, the Ministry of Tertiary Education stated: “The measure is taken in the best interest of the safety and security of staff, students and the surrounding community,” adding that the closure would remain in force pending “a comprehensive security review and further directives from the government.”
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, who visited Eruku after the church attack, announced plans to establish a Forward Operating Base of the Nigerian Army and a Mobile Police Squadron in the area.
“We will speak with the GOC to see that we have a Forward Operating Base in Eruku to enhance security here and also talk to the Inspector General of Police about establishing a mobile squadron here,” the governor said during his visit.
However, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party has been scathing in its criticism of the administration’s handling of the security crisis. In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Olusegun Adewara, the Kwara PDP described the closure as “a loud confession of failure.”
“The directive to shut down the College of Education, Oro, under the guise of insecurity is a loud confession of failure. It shows that the government has completely run out of ideas and is now surrendering public institutions to criminal elements,” the party said.
“Education must not become the casualty of insecurity. A government that claims to be addressing security challenges cannot justify closing schools while markets and other public places remain open,” the PDP added.
The Cattle Market Controversy
Perhaps nothing has inflamed public anger more than the perceived double standard in the government’s approach to security threats.
In September 2025, faced with mounting insecurity, the government ordered the closure of cattle markets (known locally as “Kara”) across Kwara South, citing their alleged links to banditry and criminal elements.
The closure lasted barely 24 hours before it was reversed, allegedly to allow the government to continue collecting taxes and market levies — a move that residents say exposed the administration’s priorities.
Today, these same markets operate freely while schools remain shut, creating what many see as a troubling message: economic revenue takes precedence over children’s education.
“It tells you everything you need to know about where we rank as a people,” said Biodun Ogunleye, a parent of three school-age children in Irepodun LGA. “Money matters more than our children’s future. That’s the message they’re sending.”
Indeed, the security situation in Kwara South has deteriorated dramatically over the past year. According to a university lecturer who researched banditry in the state, bandits killed approximately 150 people and kidnapped over 300 others in Kwara in 2025 alone.
The Owa of Eruku, Oba Busari Arinde Oyediran Olanrewaju, told Governor AbdulRazaq during his visit that the community had been suffering attacks for months.
“Since the beginning of of 2025, we have been facing this issue. Our farmers have run away, both indigenes and non-indigenes. The bandits have been disturbing us for a long time, but most of it does not get to the outside world,” the traditional ruler said.
“All teachers in the community have run away, and two of those who stayed were among those kidnapped yesterday. We always contribute money to free people kidnapped on their farms, on the road, or even in their houses”, he was quoted by The Punch.
Security experts attribute the worsening situation to Kwara’s porous borders with Kogi and Ekiti States, poor road networks, and sparse security presence, which make rural communities easy targets for bandits fleeing military pressure in neighboring forests.
Broader National Context
Kwara South’s educational crisis is not happening in isolation. Across Nigeria, insecurity has forced the closure of hundreds of schools, disrupting the education of millions of children.
In November 2025, the Federal Government ordered the closure of 47 Unity Schools nationwide due to security concerns. States like Niger, Zamfara, Kaduna, and Kebbi have all implemented school closures at various times in response to kidnapping threats and bandit attacks.
Observers warn that Nigeria risks creating a “lost generation” of children whose education has been so disrupted by insecurity that they may never fully recover academically.
As January 2026 draws to a close, there is no clear timeline for when schools in Kwara South will reopen. Government officials speak vaguely of “comprehensive security reviews” and “further directives,” but parents and students receive no concrete answers.
For Imam Sanusi and thousands like him, the waiting is agonizing.
“How can someone who does not have an education become a governor of the state in the future? How can he even be a commissioner in the future?” the cleric asked during an inter-faith prayer session recently.
“The same government could ask our children to stay at home without schools for a good three months in some communities in Kwara South,” he said, his voice a mixture of pain and defiance. “This is bad for us.”
As the sun sets over the empty schoolyards of Kwara South, one thing is certain: every day that passes without education is a day stolen from the future of a region that can ill afford to lose any more.
The question that haunts every parent, every teacher, every community leader is simple but profound: When will our children go back to school?
Until that question has an answer, the future of Kwara South remains, quite literally, shut down.
Crediblenewsng.com
