With the current economic and religious crises that have been rocking the country in recent times and a statement by the leader of the religious group known as Boko Haram sect, saying that all non-northerners should vacate the northern region of the country with the attendant panic in the heart of the citizens of the country who reside in this part of the country, one would want to know the way forward.

Initially, students were seen as neutral but with time, we students are now  seen as part of the targets of the group visiting innocent citizens with injury and death. The crises affect many non-notherners who are students in higher institutions of learning in the region.

It was gathered that recent bombing activities in Kano State have forced some students to start looking for means of going to school outside the region,  including seeking admission outside the country. A student of Taraba State University said the insecurity caused by the activities of the sect discouraged him a lot and he was even seeking for alternative outside the country. He said, “I don’t want to die in the hands of these rebels with what I still have to achieve for my country.’’

Although, as at the time of writing this report, students are at home due to the  strike action embarked upon by ASUU, this situation now leaves a question on the lips of students and their relatives: ‘’How safe will the students be when they resume back at school?. Nigerian students studying in this part of the country are pleading with state governments and the Federal Government of Nigeria to look into the security of citizens in this part of the country and most especially, students. Enough is enough.

The situation at hand will make me flash our minds back to the post-election crisis and some communal clashes that rocked the northern part of the country last year; it was very pathetic as effect on parents, students and the general public was too severe.

Many parents  became  childless despite investing all their resources towards giving their children better future. Even some schools lost sessions or semesters, leading to their academic calendar being slowed down. When will this stop completely? Is it until when all students are killed and their parents start receiving compensation in exchange for their children’s lives? We need an immediate solution to this challenge; yes, I call it challenge because it has solution.

Maybe the concerned authorities are not giving the issue the needed attention because our political office holders’ children are not schooling in Nigeria or they private schools, which they believe crisis cannot affect? I feel Nigerian leaders should take a look at the cry of struggling Nigerians that are striving to make ends meet, even in the face of the current economic hardship in the country as they are still diligent to see their wards attain their educational desires.

At this juncture, we want the stakeholders to see to the end of this menace that is eating up our country and make it more secured for us the future leaders, as we are called, but we all know we are today’s leaders, to attain our dreams and achieve our goals in making ourselves useful in creating a better future for this country.

As a person who had witnessed such crisis before, I’m writing this piece with a heavy heart that the country’s future is being jeopardised if our leaders cannot see to the end of the problem ravaging the nation.

Bolarin Dada, a student of UNIJOS,  said he knew most of our leaders are humans without feelings as some of them  are ready to cause unrest at any point in time. He added that the current situation in the nation could retard the growth of the academic pursuit of the students, as the state of mind of students and the academic calendar of schools are endangered.

Olumide Olujobi, a student of Katsina University believes everything will be sorted out soon. He advises students, as they resume back to school, to be highly security conscious and be very careful with every of their movements.

A student of University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), who pleaded anonymity, wants all students schooling in the northern part of the country to be vigilant and prayerful. He, moreover, went ahead to plead with state governments to tighten up security in  students’ environment.

Hope Wilfred, who attends  Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, said with the statement credited to  Boko Haram,  many parents would be made to panic and might  be forced to withdraw their wards from schools in the North. The implication of such a situation is that the academic pursuit of the affected students  would be disrupted while the resources invested by parents are made to waste.

Adedoyin Dimimu, a student of Kano University of Science and Technology   said, ‘’we hope this crisis is not a way for the northern political party leaders to take their pound of flesh  from the present administration, which they have not always liked, and a way to split the country.