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From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called for strong action for the protection of school children and the safety of the school environment against armed group attacks.
UNICEF in a statement from its Nigeria office on Monday to mark the 10-year remembrance of the abduction of Chibok schoolgirls, said 90 of the abducted students are still in captivity of their abductors a decade after the incident.
“UNICEF is calling for intensified efforts to protect the country’s most vulnerable population—its children,” said Ms Cristian Munduate, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria.
A total of 276 female students were kidnapped by insurgents on 14th April 2014 at a government secondary school in Chibok, southern part of Borno.
Munduate said the incident; the first mass abduction of students in the country, ought to be a wake-up call to Nigerians on the risks children face in their pursuit of education.
“Today, reflecting on this tragedy and other recent abductions, it is evident that our efforts to
safeguard our children’s futures must be amplified,” she counselled.
She said education is a
fundamental right for all children and a crucial pathway out of poverty.
She decried the low level of safety alert, child protection and security in many schools in the country
She urged the state government to step up commitment to m3t up with the standard for the protection of children in schools.
According to UNICEF, over 1,680 students and 60 school staff were kidnapped by armed groups in and out of school premises in the last 10 years.
Aside from this, 14 students were killed in 70 attacks on schools, the global body said quoting a verified UN report.
