The abduction of Chibok girls in Nigeria in 2013 represents the greatest attack on any educational facilities in the history of Nigeria. That attack which was carried out by Boko Haram insurgents was necessitated by the sect’s campaign to impose an Islamic state in the country. The attack can be described as the bloodiest school siege worldwide in nearly a decade and the worst terrorist attack in recent history. Amid an outpouring of anguish and condemnation in Nigeria and around the world, the Boko Haram insurgents were quick to claim responsibility "we selected the school for the attack because the government is targeting our families and friends,” “We want them to feel our pain" (THISDAY, 2014). The attack was another expression of a brutish trend: a growing number of educational institutions have been targeted in terrorist attacks in recent times. In trying to access the level of damage done to the world educational sectors, the University of Maryland's Global Terrorism Database, which lists more than 125,000 terrorist attacks around the world since 1970, recorded a sharp increase in terror attacks on schools (Global Terrorism Database, 2017). This increase in the number of attacks on schools has coincided with a more general increase in terrorist attacks around the world with a specific focus on Nigeria.
Author(s): Matthew Abuah Ebim, and Salako Abisola