Former Education Minister Oby Ezekwesili on Sunday blamed Nigeria’s escalating wave of school kidnappings squarely on entrenched corruption within the security apparatus, rejecting claims of insufficient resources and demanding an immediate audit of defence spending.
In a blistering series of posts on X, the BringBackOurGirls co-founder accused successive governments of diverting billions earmarked for military hardware and intelligence while terrorists and bandits operate with impunity.
“Corruption is the real reason our children are being abducted in hundreds,” Ezekwesili wrote. “It is NOT lack of money. Nigeria has received more security funding in the last decade than any other African country. Yet we have the worst outcomes because the money disappears into private pockets.”
She pointed to the latest mass abductions — 315 pupils and staff from a Niger State Catholic school on Friday, 25 girls in Kebbi and closures of all schools in Bauchi and Adamawa — as evidence of systemic rot.
“Nigerians must demand an independent forensic audit of every kobo allocated to security since 2015,” she insisted. “Until we jail the looters in uniform and in government, these abductions will never stop. They are profitable crimes funded by our own stolen money.”
Ezekwesili dismissed official excuses, stating: “When a government says it lacks funds after spending trillions on ‘security votes’ that vanish without trace, it is insulting our intelligence. The same corruption that brought us #Chibok, #Dapchi, #Kankara is now delivering #Papiri and #Maga. Enough.”
