Amnesty International on Saturday accused Nigerian authorities of failing to protect children in the country’s north, after more than 230 students were abducted this week in mass attacks on schools in Kebbi and Niger states.
The rights group said the latest kidnappings reinforce the government’s inability to prevent a pattern of assaults that has forced hundreds of schools to close and disrupted the education of thousands of children across Katsina, Plateau and other states.
“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 said more than 780 children were kidnapped in 2021 in raids on schools and religious institutions, with some killed during the attacks, adding that the continuing incidents show authorities “never cared to learn any lessons from such previous incidents.”
According to Amnesty International, teachers in Zamfara, Katsina and Niger states have reported steep drops in school attendance since 2021, as fear of abductions keeps children at home. The organisation said many underage girls are being withdrawn from school entirely and married off by families seeking to shield them from possible attacks.
“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.”
Amnesty said assaults on educational institutions have “major and far-reaching” consequences, warning that Nigeria has a duty under international law to protect children and ensure that abductions, intimidation and killings do not further undermine 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 investigate the attacks as potential 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.
The rights group called on authorities to provide stronger protection for schools and ensure perpetrators of attacks are brought to justice in fair trials.