Nigeria’s former Vice President Atiku Abubakar says the government lacks the ‘vision’ to handle violence in the country, a day after militants killed over 50 students.

Abubakar made the remarks in a statement released by a local newspaper Vanguard, on Monday.

“Nigerians have lost faith in their government because of this lack of vision in the management of the nation’s political, economic and social affairs,” the former vice president said.


Abubakar urged Abuja to reconsider the ways in which the government deals with such instances of violence.

“We must urgently review our strategy for confronting these cowards. We need to rethink how we provide security for our nation.”

He made the comments a day after Boko Haram militants claimed responsibility for storming the College of Agriculture in Gujba’s dormitory in Yobe state, shooting dead 50 students in their sleep.

Reports say the militants also torched classrooms.

On September 28, militants killed 27 people in two separate attacks in the country’s northeast.

In May, the Nigerian government imposed a state of emergency in three states in the northeast, saying Boko Haram had become a security threat in those states.

Boko Haram - whose name means “Western education is forbidden” - says its goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government.

The group has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly gun and bomb attacks in various parts of Nigeria since 2009.

Over the past four years, violence in the north of Africa’s most populous country has claimed the lives of 3,600 people, including killings by the security forces.