Pulse Opinion UNIMAID remains resolute in the face of terrorists' attacks

Several attacks have been carried out in and around the University. Several casualties have been recorded since Boko Haram terrorists considered the University of Maiduguri as one of its targets to actualize its obnoxious campaign against Western Education.

Maiduguri as a state has been the hotbed of Boko Haram's activities since 2009.

Every living thing in the state has suffered from all forms of terrorist attacks. And most of these attacks are by default attributed to Boko Haram.

The University of Maiduguri by virtue of its location is exposed to terrorists' attacks. The institution is located on the outskirt of the city of Maiduguri with porous borders that make it susceptible to terrorists' attacks.

Boko Haram terrorists and suicide bombers take advantage of these porous borders to penetrate the institution and carry out their heinous crimes against the residents, students and officials of the University.

In 2017 alone, there have been 48 bomb attacks in the whole of Borno state and more than 200 people have been killed in all of these attacks.

About 10 of these attacks were carried out at the University of Maiduguri.

In some of these attacks, security guards and academic staff members were killed. The death of Prof. Aliyu Mani, the Director of the University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital is still fresh in our minds.

Prof Mani was killed while performing the early morning prayer in a mosque already marked to be bombed by Boko Haram terrorists in January.

Ironically, in the face of these indiscriminate killings, gun and suicide attacks, UNIMAID remains open to students and workers.

The University churns out graduates as much as it gives admission to whomever cares to have their university education in the institution, year in and year out.

It seems nothing is amiss even when Maiduguri's atmosphere is the hottest in the country, UNIMAID runs like a normal academic environment.

Meanwhile, before UNIMAID became the main target for suicide bombers, 70 professors, staff members and students had reportedly left the institution about two years ago because of Boko Haram's activities in Borno state.

Government is making efforts to prevent UNIMAID from terrorists' attacks but suicide bombers still attack villages around the University.

Due to the heavy presence of security men in the school, the spate of attacks around the University have drastically reduced.

However, one would have thought of UNIMAID being deserted by now due to the incessant attacks hitting the school and its environs.

Instead, the institution, despite the many suicide attacks, retains all the attributes that make it an academic institution.

It can be said that the University's community has adjusted to the attacks. It can also be said that suicide bombers have prompted the students and officials of the school to devise shock absorbers for bomb sounds when they hear one.

This is evident in the suicide attacks that happened at one of the villages around the institution on Tuesday, November 7, 2017.

In the attack, four suicide bombers were killed and six farmers were injured.

Conversations with two students of the University after the suicide attack revealed that the heavy presence of soldiers in the University has warded off terrorists from the institution.

The students said the sounds of bombing only causes momentary scare after which normalcy returns to the University with alacrity.

ALSO READ : UNIMAID students react to suicide bombing in Maiduguri

Abdullahi Ebet Shuwa, fresh graduate of the University who was in the school when the bomb went off said there was a momentary pandemonium during the bomb blast as it did not happen in the school premises.

"I was in the school when it happened. When I was going to the school, we heard the bomb sound and people were scared. some ran out of the school and some ran inside but those who ran into the school are more than those who ran out.

"No casualty inside the school because it did not happen in the school, rather it happened in Zanneri village which is not too far from the school.

"When there is bomb attack in Maiduguri it is mostly not inside the school may be when they are approaching the schools, soldiers are always there to pursue them back because there is a heavy presence of soldiers in and around the school," Shuwa said.

Corroborating Shuwa, another student of the school, Afsat Shuwa-Maiduguri said everybody was scared when they heard the sound and normalcy returned immediately after, as the situation was quickly put under control.

"It wasn't really inside the school. it happened far away from the school but the sound really scared us all.

"Students were frightened and they beefed up security around. UNIMAID still looks very much like academic environment," She said.

Boko Haram has not been fully decimated in Maiduguri as the terrorists still find their ways to hurt farmers and peasants in Borno state.

But in UNIMAID, the terrorists' activities have been brought under control, as troops of the Nigerian Army patrol the institution day and night to protect the students and workers of the University.

Ostensibly, nothing remains of Boko Haram in UNIMAID except the fear of the terrorists' scary and deadly sounds of explosives that reverberates through the whole of Maiduguri.