WELCOME TO KENTERPRO:
IMPACT OF INSECURITY AND CRISIS ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BARKIN-LADI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Education is the best legacy a nation can give to her citizens, because the development of any nation depends on the educational attainment of her children. Education does not only provide knowledge and values but also develop skills in children. It is universally accepted that education enables individuals to use their skills contribute to the development and improvement in the quality of life for themselves, their communities and the nation as a whole. Education is the most important component of human resource development and it accords “pride to a nation”. There is no doubt that the importance of education cannot be underscored because there is no industry that has succeeded without educating its citizen. Education according to Osokoya, (2009) helps to improve skill, health, prosperity, and ecological balance in the world. It encourages social, economic, cultural progress, tolerance, national and international cooperation. According to Ugwuanyi (2013) education is the process by which society establishes to assist the young to learn and understand the heritage of the past. It enabled citizen to participate productively in the society and contributed meaningfully to its development. Emeka (2018) sees education as a process by which any society through schools, colleges, universities and other institutions deliberately transmit knowledge, values and skills from one person to another. The aim of education in Nigeria and elsewhere cannot be achieve when children are not secure to study in their learning environment.

It is in realization of the importance of education of the child that the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in its 1999 constitution made a declaration of the right of every Nigerian child to education, irrespective of gender, tribe, religion or race. It makes sense to state that the lofty vision of education as enunciated in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would be realized in a serene and conducive school environment. According to Lehr (2014), the noble goals of education can never be achieved in a vacuum. They would be achieved in a conducive and peaceful school environment. If there is a feeling of insecurity within and outside the school environment, both students and teachers are likely to be deterred and this may inhibit the administration of the school.

Insecurity today is a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabrics of our economic, political, and educational system. Every part of Nigeria has gotten its fair share of this social problem. The effect of insecurity and crisis has posed a big threat to government, local businesses, and educational system as a whole. One of the single issues that have dominated the educational system today is crises which affects students’ academically. On a daily basis the media has continued to highlight and discuss incessant cases of armed robbery, kidnapping, bombings, abductions, rape, cultic activities and a high rise in ethnic and communal clashes, which have become regular occurrences and have characterized life in Nigeria (Nwangwa, 2014). Media report are awash with the number of lives lost as a result of terrorist, insurgent and other attacks that seem to be alarming. As if some places in the country can be walled off from the negative impact of violence, our academic (schools) institutions have also become hot spots where cases of insecurity are recorded (Ojukwu & Nwanma, 2015).

The concept of insecurity connotes the state or quality of being insecure. Security in simple terms means protection of lives and properties from destruction. According to Onifode, Imhonopl and Uorim (2013) security is the dynamic condition which involves the relative ability of a state to counter threats to its core values and interest and their primary beneficiaries are the citizens. In addition, sharing the view Abraham Maslow, Iyenger (1977) stated that an insecure person perceives the world as a life threatening jungle, feels unsafe, unhappy, rejected, hostile, and pessimistic, shows a sign of tension, conflict and guilt, and tends to be neurotic and generally egocentric. It therefore seems that when a student studies in an environment that is characterized by insecurity, the student may suffer socially, mentally and emotionally and it makes sense hypothetically to state that all these are likely to affect not only his behavior and psychosocial adjustment but may also affect the administration of secondary schools. Katsina (2012) reviewed the state of insecurity in Nigeria and submitted that it is a concomitant of the deep and structurally entrenched crisis of development that creates conditions for inequality, poverty, and unemployment. This line of reasoning was trumpeted for some time during the tenure of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as Nigerian President as the Boko Haram group kept creating tension and insecurity across Nigeria.

Crisis has weaken the education system, Hormby (2006) defines crisis as a situation in which people adherents are involved in a serious disagreement or argument with one religious group and another. This is a situation in which there are opposition in ideas, opinions, feelings and wishes. Olite and Olawale (2013) opined that crisis is a struggle over values and claims to scarce resources, status and power in which the aims of the opponents are to neutralize or eliminate their rivals. This definition very much suits, or reflects the conflict between famers and herders in Nigeria. Gyuse (2006) further points out that when two or more persons, groups, communities or nations seek to take possession or dominate a particular object of value at the exclusion of others, crisis ensues. Aja (2007) conceptualizes conflict as an attitude a behavior or an action or a process that introduces strains and stresses in the relationship between two or more parties on say the attainment of a set of interest or goal. Conflict is seen as situation when two or more parties, with perceived incompatible goals, seek to undermine each other goals seeking capability.

The issue of effective administration in the mist of insecurity and crisis has become critical in education that is expanding enrolments and in nations with constrained resources. Success in increasing access to basic education has often led to declining quality of administration. The provision of secure and favourable physical and psychological working environment is the task of school administrators.

            Administration according to Peretomode (2003) is the component part of the management concerned with facilitating accomplishment of the objectives of an organization like school through the systematic management of constraints and careful utilization of the available limited resources like human, material, finance and so on. Pobish, Amodu & Lekshak (2015) explained in a clear term that administration is an art of identifying goals and mobilizing resources for the achievement of common goals. The definitions of administration cannot be complete without the opinion of Gulick & Urwick cited in Pobish, Amodu & Lekshak (2015), who view administration in administrative process point of view. They classify administration in an acronym called POSDCORB. The acronym signifies Planning, Organization, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting, and Budgeting respectively. To them the business of administration encompasses the above variables on a day-to-day activities to accomplish goals of an organization such as the school system. Okeke (2014) sees school administration as involving the provision and maintenance of the necessary manpower to those who teach children with a view to bring about the desired change in the children’s behaviour. The school principals face numerous administrative problems which militate against operative running of their schools. These include inadequate and low quality teachers, inadequate funding to maintain schools, paying teachers’ salaries, intrusion by parents. Others are lack of accommodation for students, indiscipline behaviours on the part of teachers and students and uncooperative assertiveness of other school staff. Where the heads fail to arrest these situations and problems, the smooth running of secondary school is conceded.

This insecurity is believed to have existed since the beginning of educational administration and either increased or decreased in intensity or frequency depending on economic, environmental and other factors. Oyedeji (2010) lamented that Nigeria will forever remain an underdeveloped economically, politically, scientifically and educationally because of the unsatisfactory status of insecurity around the nation. As a developing country, Nigeria faced share of social, political, economic, and cultural problems that led to insecurity, which has in no small measure affected the wellbeing of the third class populace (Adebayo, 2016). Adebayo further explained that most victims of crisis in the study area were the poor citizens and not the government officials. Every country is aspiring to reach a point of security by protecting its citizens from violence, crime, and social insecurity; in the case of Nigeria it only strived towards political power not minding the feature of the common man. Subsequently, without the safety of citizens, all plans for development whether economic, political or social and so on will fail. Insecurity and crisis is a phenomenon eating deep into various ministries across the nation in varying capacities as it affects the development of education and students’ performance as the case may be.

            Crisis and the destructions of lives and properties, depravation of right to education and declined in effective administration and academic performance of students currently posed a very big challenge to Nigerian government both at the federal, state, and local level as well as multinational enterprises operating in the country. Halima (2019) state that the educational implications of the growing rate of crisis and insecurity in Nigeria can be measured from different perspective. Halima, argue that the cost of destruction of educational properties and national productivity are directly affected, while there are long term indirect cost of confronting and curbing the menace. The challenge of controlling crisis, crimes and herders-famers clashes has really been very expensive. Federal government has spent a whale of amount on defense and security. The federal government expenditure on security is so heavy compare to expenditures on other critical sectors of the society (Halima, 2019). With the state of nation now, one may not be considered to be totally wrong to say that insecurity and crisis and herders-famers clash have given Nigeria and Nigerians more bad labels in three years than corruption has done in the 60 years of nationhood (Halima 2019).

In Nigeria today, the challenges posed by crises have become a matter of national insecurity which have cause negatives setback to the education of young and adult. Insecurity has continued to be a major bane in Plateau particularly Barkin-ladi local government area and has in many ways led to destruction of lives and properties over the years. These senseless killing, kidnapping of students and destruction made our schools perform below standard, left many schools close-down and students out of school, despite effort by the local, state, and federal governments to promote education in the country. This persistent terror act which leads to the destruction of school properties, death of teachers stopped of school session and loss of lives and properties is an indication that all is not well with our educational sector because what happened to a part of the body affects the whole system.

1.2 Statement of Problem

            Attendance to school is dependent on the readiness of the child, encouragement from parents, provision of school materials, distance to school and above all the security of the child. Herders and famers clashes has become a threat to most parents and children in most Northern States. There are series of cases of bombing and burning of schools, kidnapping of students and houses in Nigeria. Nigeria has had its unfair dose of violent and terrorist acts perpetrated by interest groups, identifiable individuals and organization as well as fifth columnists acting sometimes on behalf of the state particularly during Nigeria’s long history of military interregnum. Different groups with different names have masterminded violence and terrorist attacks in Nigeria at different times and places. The group ranges from the Niger Delta ethnic militants in south south, Oodu’a People’s Congress (OPC) in the south west, Bakassi Boys and Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) in the South East and the Jama’atul Alilus Sunnah Lidda’ await Jihad, popularly referred to as Boko Haram, Fulani headmen in Plateau state. The incidences of kidnapping, hostage taking of the workers of multinational companies and militancy in the Niger Delta region and the Boko Haram insecurity and crisis in the northern states are cases in point (Ogbonnaya and Ehigiamusoe 2013).

            Insecurity, crisis, kidnapping, crime, violence, disorder, bombing, and gunmen invasion are the major problems facing the administration of secondary schools in Barkin-Ladi. These problems not only affect students and teachers but they also prevent teachers from concentrating on teaching and students from concentrating on learning process, while the administration of the schools is also affected. Children by right are legally required to attend school, school personnel have the corresponding duty to provide children with a safe, secure, and peaceful environment in which learning can occur. The administrators in secondary schools are confronted with problems of students possessing and fighting with weapons such as the result of illegal used of armed by herders and famers where students injured themselves with weapons. School properties worth millions of naira were damaged. Many students go to school with guns in bid to protect themselves and some others sold themselves to the Boko Haram Sect and are being used to bomb down schools as in the case of Federal Government College Yobe State, where a child was made to bomb down the school.

This cankerworm has already eaten up educational system in the bid of finding out the causes of terrorism and proffering a workable means by which it can be terminated.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to examine impact of insecurity and crisis on the administration of secondary schools in Barkin-ladi Local Government Area of Plateau state. While emphasis is placed on the following objectives:

• To find out the causes of insecurity and crisis in Barkin-ladi Local Government Area of Plateau state
• To find out the effects of insecurity and crisis in the administration of secondary schools in Barkin-ladi Local Government Area of Plateau state.
• To determine the government efforts toward community affected with insecurity and crisis in Barkin-ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State.
• To determine administrative emergency response plans for combating insecurity and crisis in Barkin-ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State.

1.4 Research Questions

• What are the causes of insecurity and crisis in Barkin-ladi Local Government Area of Plateau state?
• What are the effects of effects of insecurity and crisis in the administration of secondary schools in Barkin-ladi Local Government Area of Plateau state?
• What are the government efforts toward community affected with crisis in the administration of secondary schools in Barkin-ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State?
• What are the administrative emergency response plans for combating insecurity and crisis in Barkin-ladi Local Government Area of Plateau state?
  • Hypotheses
• There is no significant relationship between insecurity and crisis in the administration of secondary schools in Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau state.
• There is no significant relationship between administrative responses and the administration of secondary schools in barkin-ladi Local Government Area of Plateau state.
  • Significance of the Study.

            This study will help the community to focused on measures for improving security situations in schools, it will help create good school climate for encouraging effective learning.

            The study will be useful to school governing boards, school staff, students, state, and federal governments and to researchers.

            Governing boards have the broadest role in ensuring school safety. Boards create the philosophical foundation that guides decisions and direct future actions. Through their governance roles, boards adopt policies, programmes and curricula that can contribute to safe environment for all students and staff. With the help of this study, the board members will rise to their roles to ensure that the link between security and opportunity for academic success is publicized to the community. This is because the study will expose security improvement measures needed for effective academic environment.

            The study will also be useful to the school staff. The implementation of school security strategies is the responsibility of all staff and with the findings of this study; the staff will be exposed to strategies for managing safety in the schools. The study will also help the school staff develop safety plans, intervention and alternative strategies and codes of conduct for improving safety and security in schools

            Furthermore, the study will have some significant effect on the students. This is because the study articulates measures for improving students’ security. With the adoption of the measures, it is hoped that the students will stay in schools under safe and secured conditions.

Also the study will be useful to the state and federal governments. They pass laws and regulations that have impact on schools and other agencies on security matters. Findings of the study will help them to articulate laws and policies that will provide adequate safety and security in schools.

            Finally, the study will be useful to researchers who may conduct related studies on effective ways of ensuring that there is schools secure.

1.7 Scope and Delimitation of the Study.

The scope of the study is restricted to impact of insecurity and crisis on the administration of secondary schools in Barkin-ladi Local Government Area of plateau State. The content scope covered the causes of insecurity and crisis, effects of insecurity and crisis in the administration of secondary schools, government efforts toward community affected with insecurity and crisis, available emergency response plans for combating insecurity and crisis in Barkin-ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State. The study delimits its scope to some Ten (10) selected secondary schools in Barkin-ladi Local Government Area of Plateau state.

1.8. Definition of Terms.

Insecurity: basically, is the use of threat in order to achieve personal aim or political purposes usually involves the use of weapon on the innocent citizens.

Insurgent: these are interest groups equip with arms and ammunition aim at achieving personal, political, and religious purposes.

Academic Performance: This is academic progress of students usually measure at the end of every academic session, to ascertain the geometric progress of students academically.

Famers: these are group of people practically faming as their occupation

Herders: Are cattle breeders who usually move from one place to another in search feeding for their cattle

Impact of insecurity and crisis on academic performance of students: This is seen as the end result of the use of violence which have cause negatives setback to students’ academic achievement. The effect of insecurity and crisis has posed a big threat to government, local businesses and educational system as a whole

Herders-famers clash: These are violence between the interest group on mostly land and destruction of lives and properties