Taraba is ringing the alarm bell, and this time the echo is loud enough to shake every classroom wall. Following a disturbing rise in kidnappings across the country, Governor Agbu Kefas has ordered all secondary schools—public and private—to shut down their boarding houses immediately and operate strictly as day schools. The state government says the move is a defensive play to keep students from becoming soft targets for bandits, especially after fresh abductions in Kebbi and Niger.

According to Dr. Augustina Godwin, Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, the state has seen enough red flags to act fast. She noted that criminal gangs appear to be deliberately targeting boarding students, forcing the government to pull the plug on hostel operations “without further delay.” Principals and school proprietors have now been directed to send all boarders home until the security climate stabilizes.

While the government is trying to keep students safe, the Catholic Diocese of Wukari is raising its own cry for help. After a 3-day workshop on trauma counseling for displaced residents, the Diocese issued a solemn statement lamenting the relentless attacks sweeping through Takum and Ussa local government areas. They described the situation as a grim cycle where terrorists storm communities, kill and injure residents, chase survivors away, and then occupy their homes and farmlands as though claiming trophies.

The Diocese’s leadership—Very Rev. Fr. (Prof) Anthony Bature, Very Rev. Fr. Simon Akuraga, and Rev. Fr. Moses Angyian—warned that the violence has escalated sharply in recent days while security agents appear overwhelmed or absent. Many survivors now crowding IDP camps are left without protection, resources, or medical care. The Church is calling on all levels of government to stop the bloodshed, provide relief materials, treat the injured, and prioritize the return and rehabilitation of displaced families.

Their message closes with a hard truth: peace won’t come by luck. They urge the Federal Government to accept help “from wherever it can come” to halt the killings and restore dignity to peaceful farming communities who have been turned into refugees in their own land.