Lead British International School Abuja, which has been in the eye of the storm over viral videos of bullying involving some of its students, has been shut for three days.

The shutdown order was issued on Tuesday by the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohaneye.

The Public Relations Officer of the FCT Education Secretariat, Kabiru Musa, confirmed that the school had been shut down by the minister.

“Yes, it was shut down by the honourable Minister of Women Affairs for 3 days,” Musa in response to a Whatsapp message by one of The PUNCH correspondents.

A staff member of the school, whose name could not be ascertained as of press time, had earlier announced the shutdown of the school by the minister.

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The PUNCH reports that an X user, @moooyeeeee, had on Monday night posted two videos of a female student of the school being repeatedly slapped by another female classmate.

The user called for justice for the victim. Since they were posted, the videos have drawn the wrath of many users of the microblogging platform, who condemned the incident and called for the school authorities to investigate and punish the culprits.

A third video depicting a separate case of bullying at the Lead British International School, Abuja emerged on Tuesday.

In the new video posted on Tuesday, some male students in the school’s uniform are seen surrounding another boy who appears to be in casual attire.

A student slapped the boy, who was on his knees, and then some of the other boys who were gathered appealed to stop the ‘bully’ from further harming the boy, who was later whisked away in the nine-second video.

An X user, @PopoolaJoke4, who posted the video wrote, “No be the same school?”, in response to the first viral video of bullying in the same school that was released earlier.”

In one of the videos of the minister’s visit, the representative of the school was heard saying, “By the request of the Minister of Women Affairs, we are Nigerians who respect rules and regulations and we are under the law because our school is actually recognised and our school is under the Federal Capital Territory, and we are registered and based on that, Lead British International School, Abuja is hereby shut for three days.”

As of the time of filing this report, our correspondent could not ascertain whether the FCTA would use the occasion to investigate other private schools in which alleged cases of bullying take place in the FCT.

Victim threatens lawsuit

Namtira Bwala, the student assaulted by her fellow students at Lead British International School, has written the school management, demanding a thorough investigation and heavy sanctions for the 11 students who bullied her.

Two of the bullies were identified tobe Maryam Hassan and a certain Faliya.

Bwala, in a letter addressed to the management of her school through her lawyers at the Deji Adeyanju and Partners Law Firm, gave the school an ultimatum of 48 hours after which she will seek legal redress.

A copy of the letter obtained by The PUNCH read, “Our client and several other parents in Lead British International School have informed us and we verily believe them that this act of bullying is a reoccurring issue in the school, and despite several attempts to draw the school’s attention to it, the issue has persisted, leaving our client traumatised from the emotional and physical effect of the oppressive acts by these daredevil bullies.

“Our client completely dissociates herself from the statement issued by the school on April 22, 2024, wherein a case of battery was unconscionably referred to as an ‘incident between minors’.

“Sequel to the foregoing, we have our client’s instruction to demand an immediate investigation and the pronouncement of the stiffest possible sanctions in the student’s rule book on Ms. Maryam Hassan, Miss Faliya and nine other students who have formed a cult of bullies in Lead British International School, Gwarimpa, Abuja.

“Please note that if the school fails to sanction the student bullies within 48 hours of the receipt of this letter, we have our client’s further instruction to seek an immediate and severe legal redress against Lead British International School, Gwarimpa, without further recourse to you.”

PUNCH

The Bauchi State government on Wednesday, warned that it will stop payment of external examination fees for Senior Secondary Three (SS3) students involved in truancy.

The state Commissioner for Education, Dr Jamila Dahiru gave the warning in Bauchi during her school resumption inspection and monitoring visits to some schools.

It could be recalled that Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state in February 2024, released a sum of N396.9 million to pay for the 2023/2024 external examinations of 14,170 students in the public schools.

The external examinations paid for included the West African Examination Council (WAEC), the National Examination Council (NECO), National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

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However, the Commissioner, who was furious with the low level of attendance of especially the SS3 students in some schools, recounted how she met not up to 20 per cent of the SS3 students who were around when she visited a particular school.

“We just realized that most of these students, after being taught from JSS1 to SS3 and with Gov. Bala Mohammed paying for their external exams, and as soon as they were done with their mock exams, they left school and won’t return until the first day of their external exams.

“It is sad to acknowledge that we are not responsible as parents because I want to believe that they have parents who are seeing them attending schools simply because they are getting ready to just write their external examinations.

“We want to make them come back to class, we want to emphasize that we are investing in the right people because it is just telling us that it is the government that bothers about their education while they don’t care and probably their parents that are allowing them to stay at home also don’t care.

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“If they don’t care, we want to channel our energy to those that care. That is why I gave a directive that each and every child that we are sponsoring must be in school throughout this term before they commence their examination.

“If they don’t want to come to prepare so that they can pass with ease, then we should give those that are ready by revoking theirs and that’s why we are emphasising that the parents are responsible,” she said.

Dahiru also warned the teachers across the state to be wary of truancy or lateness to school, adding that such misconduct would not be further tolerated and would be met with serious sanctions.

She directed that no teachers should be allowed to gain entrance into any school premises by 9am, warning that teachers must be on ground by 7:30am.

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“Based on the registers that we checked, we observed that some of the teachers are resuming work by 9am and the school management are not taking any action.

“We are paying you for your job and you also have passion for the job, so why would you be coming to school by 9am.

“We have spoken with school management to strictly monitor and ensure compliance of the national standard for teaching and learning. Therefore, any teacher that is found guilty, we will take action,” said the commissioner.

Ahead of the 2024 Edo State governorship election, Edo indigenes under the auspices of Edo Progressive Indigenous Association (EPIA), a.k.a. Edo Indigenous Movement Worldwide, has called on the candidates of various political parties to include in their manifestos the establishment of Edo Indigenous Commission or Ministry of Edo Indigenous Affairs in order to gain Edo indigenes’ support worldwide.

This call was contained in a press release signed by President of EPIA, Dr. Omogiade Enoyiogiere Edokpolo.

According to the release, “this will help to prioritize the interest of Edo indigenes in the areas of employments, contracts, empowerment, and promotion of Edo heritage.

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“This will also help in eliminating marginalisation of Edo indigenes in Edo lands by the State government and foreign investors in the State. It will also go a long way in promoting promoting the local content Act of Nigeria.

“So, we are calling on all political candidates of various political parties to take seriously, issues concerning the empowerment of Edo indigenes, thereby prioritizing Edo indigenes in their portfolio through setting up of the above Ministry or Commission.

“This is the only way that Edo indigenes will support them in the forthcoming governorship election, considering the fact that Edo Indigenous people for decades, have suffered so many set back in terms of marginalization of its Indigenes and has also been less prioritised in the areas of contracts, employments, bursary, medical aids, and order benefits entitled to them, just to mention a few, both in government space and the various multi-billion foreign companies and investments in the State.

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The said ministry will help to monitor and serve the interest of Edo Indigenes at large.

The press release also added that Edo indigenes need a technocrat that has promising track records and global exposure, above all, that have excelled in his chosen career to take over from Gov. Godwin Obaseki.