The President of Catholic Women Organisations, Dame Mary Ashibi-Gonsum, on Saturday disclosed that the Federal Government should focus more on ending crises in the country.

This is just as Gonsum said that the CWO is worried about the increasing number of out-of-school children, especially in the North East, resulting from kidnapping of children for ransom.

She said while the 61^st Independence Anniversary speech of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) was that of hope, she wished for a more definitive approach to end banditry.

“I was hoping for a more purposeful and definitive approach to the fight against banditry and insurgency.

“We expected President Buhari to announce a purposeful roadmap to end banditry in the country.

“Women and children are worse hit in all of these as the loss of husbands and fathers expose them to unsavoury conditions of squalor and agony,’’ she said.

Ashibi-Gonsum also expressed disappointment at the poor performance of students in competitive and external examinations like JAMB, the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination and others.

The CWO president blamed the woeful performance of students in the examinations on insecurity and tasked the Federal Government to explore security variants other than military operations to check the menace.

She said efforts should be made to stop the disruption of school calendar and to ensure that children stayed in school to learn.

Ashibi-Gonsum also challenged Nigerians to refrain from badmouthing the nation, but pray for the leaders to remain focused in the management of the country.

NAN