Ezekwesili Says Rising Insecurity and Mass Abductions are Driven by Corruption.

A former Minister of Education and co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls Movement, Oby Ezekwesili, has blamed Nigeria’s worsening insecurity and the repeated mass abductions of schoolchildren on what she called “cancerous, systemic corruption” that has weakened national institutions.

In a post on her X handle on Monday, she said corruption had eroded the country’s core values to the point where crucial institutions, including the military and judiciary, had become “deeply compromised and unable to carry out their responsibilities.”

According to her, “Endemic corruption gradually ate up the very values on which they were founded and rendered them the impotent institutions we now know.”

She warned that the country is now facing the full consequences of years of neglecting good governance. Citing data from UNICEF and Save the Children, she noted that more than 1,680 students were abducted in 70 attacks between 2014 and 2022, and another 816 students in 22 attacks from 2023 to November 2025.

Reflecting on over a decade of advocacy following the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction, Ezekwesili said public outrage “no longer feels adequate,” stressing that the recurring kidnappings reflect state failure, not isolated incidents. She described the persistent attacks as “proof of state collapse in its most basic duty — protecting our children.”

She argued that ten years after the Chibok tragedy, the Federal Government could no longer claim ignorance or inexperience.

“What we have is deliberate negligence, and deliberate negligence is a crime,” she stated.

Ezekwesili added that any government that fails to rescue abducted students or properly secure schools “admits it is governing without legitimacy.”

“Enough said,” she concluded.