Schools no longer safe for children in Northern Nigeria – Amnesty Int’l fumes

 The Amnesty International has criticised Nigerian authorities for failing to keep children safe in northern states after more than 230 students were abducted this week in Kebbi and Niger.

The organisation said the new kidnappings show the government is still unable to stop repeated attacks on schools, which have already forced hundreds of them to shut down and disrupted the education of thousands of children across states such as Katsina and Plateau.

“The Nigerian authorities are failing children,” said Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

School children in some parts of northern Nigeria are constantly at risk of death or abduction.”

Sanusi noted that more than 780 children were kidnapped in 2021 from schools and religious centres, and some were killed during the raids.

He said the continued abductions prove that authorities “never cared to learn any lessons from such previous incidents.”

Amnesty International added that teachers in Zamfara, Katsina and Niger have reported a sharp drop in school attendance since 2021 because many children are too afraid to go back.

The group also said many young girls are being withdrawn from school completely and married off by families who fear they could be kidnapped.

The future of thousands of school children in northern Nigeria remains bleak, as hundreds of schools in some states have been closed indefinitely due to rising insecurity,” Sanusi said.

“Hundreds of children may entirely abandon education due to the psychological trauma of witnessing violent attacks or living in captivity.”

The group warned that attacks on educational institutions come with “major and far-reaching” consequences.

It said Nigeria has a responsibility under international law to protect children and make sure that killings, intimidation and abductions do not weaken the school system.

“There is a deliberate attack on children by armed groups. Using children as shields or bargaining chips is unacceptable and must stop,” Sanusi said.

He urged the government to treat the attacks as possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“No child should go through what children are going through now in northern Nigeria. Education should not be a matter of life and death for anyone. Nigeria is failing children once again in a horrifying manner,” he added.

Amnesty called on the government to strengthen security around schools and ensure all perpetrators are arrested and prosecuted through fair trials.