Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has attributed Nigeria’s worsening insecurity and repeated mass abductions of schoolchildren to what she described as cancerous, systemic corruption that has weakened the country’s institutions.
In a post via her X handle on Monday, Ezekwesili explained that corruption has so eroded Nigeria’s foundational values that key institutions, including the military and judiciary, have become compromised and unable to fulfill their mandates. “Endemic corruption gradually ate up the very values on which they were founded and rendered them the impotent institutions we now know,” she wrote.
The co-convener of the BringBackOurGirls Movement said that despite years of warnings about the dangers of ignoring good governance, the country is now facing the full impact of institutional decay. She emphasized that the recurring attacks highlight the failures of leadership and governance in protecting citizens.
Citing data from UNICEF and Save the Children, Ezekwesili noted that over 1,680 students were abducted in 70 attacks between 2014 and 2022. Between 2023 and November 2025, another 816 students were taken in 22 attacks, showing that the crisis is ongoing and worsening.
She said the recurring kidnappings are evidence of state failure rather than isolated security breaches. “The latest group of abducted children are not just hostages of terrorists; they are hostages of the unforgivable failure of governments and a political class that refuse to be moved,” Ezekwesili stated.
Ezekwesili stressed that these attacks prove a collapse of the state’s basic duty to protect its greatest human asset: the children. She added that more than ten years after the Chibok abduction, the federal government can no longer claim ignorance or a lack of experience in handling such crises.
