This article examines the rising cases of insecurity and abduction of school children and its adverse on education and solutions that can be charted.
Education is a major driver for development globally. The challenge with education in Nigeria has always been an issue but in northern Nigeria, it takes a more harmful dimension due to several factors particularly due to poverty, religious rites and traditions.
With the progression in technology and social developments indices in more recent times, the situation gives the impression that things have greatly improved but with the rise of radicalism with the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria in 2009 most especially in Northern Nigeria, girl child education have come under serious threat. The insurgents have since the outset of their operations thrown into total chaos the educational systems in the north with destructive effects on the education of young girls and their abduction as child brides and use as bombers.
The North-east of Nigeria, comprising six states namely Adamawa, Bauchi, Taraba, Gombe, Yobe and Borno state are the worst hit. The region has faced a devastating trend of insurgency, terrorism, mass abductions and brutal killings of innocent citizens perpetrated by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups.
The series of abductions by the Boko Haram sect prior to the abduction of the about 280 schoolgirls in Chibok in Maiduguri, that had been reported include:
- Abduction of a teenage girl found hiding in a church in Maiduguri by Boko Haram in July 2009.
- The abduction of a woman from her home in Maiduguri after her husband was killed for refusing to renounce her Christian faith- July 2009
- The abduction of 12 women from a police barracks in Bama was the first case of abduction of more than one woman in a single attack and signaled a campaign of violence against women and girls (BBC News, May 15, 2013).
- The abduction of some 20 women and girls from a checkpoint set up on the Damaturu Maiduguri highway – September 2013.
- The abduction of several teenage girls from their homes and while selling their goods – November 2013
- The abduction of twenty female students of Government girl’s science college and five street hawkers during an attack on Konduga in Borno state February 2014
- The abduction of 219 girls from the government secondary school Chibok on the night of April 14, 2014
- The abduction of six women and two children from the village of Wala in Borno state on April 16, 2014
- The abduction of five women from Gujba village in Yobe state on April 25, 2014
- The abduction of eleven teenage girls during attacks on Wala and Warabe villages in southern Borno state on May 6, 2014
- The abduction of sixty women from Kummabza village in Damboa local government area Borno state in June 2014
- Boko Haram also abducted at least twenty Fulani women from Baking-Kogi Garkin Fulani and Rugardhardo villages near Chibok in Borno state on June 6 2014
The abduction of 280 schoolgirls from the government secondary school in Chibok, Borno State on the night of April 14, 2014, perhaps remains one of the biggest abductions by Boko Haram.
Education that has always been a problem in the Northern region of Nigeria is getting worse with the abduction of school children and those in tertiary institutions. No one is in doubt that the Nigerian governments have been exploring ways to end this menace however grave consequences of the insecurity on vulnerable groups and children can’t be quantified.
Some of the schoolgirls have been murdered, some abducted, forcefully recruited, sexually abused and child brides and much more internally displaced while others have gone as far as seeking refuge in neighboring countries, separated from their family members and caregivers which makes them prone to hunger, disease and emotional disorder.
UNICEF in 2015 states that following the unabated attacks on educational institutions, school children and teachers (over one million children) have been forced out of school.
The heinous acts of killing, kidnapping, abduction, illegal detention, torturing, sexual abuse and forced recruitment of school children result in violent denials of children’s right to education.
Presently, northeastern Nigeria has a low literacy level as it has the highest proportion of out-of-school children. The Nigerian demographic and health survey 2013 (NDHS) showed that the northeast has the lowest rate of school attendance in Nigeria as against the southeastern region which has the highest.
The assessment showed that Yobe state, in particular, had the worst rate among all the states in Nigeria in terms of school attendance for both male and female children in primary and secondary schools, with just 12 % attendance compared to 75 % in Imo state in the southeast
Lately, studies conducted in some schools in Damaturu, the capital city of Yobe state reveal that insecurity in the region has caused more reduction in school attendance. A similar assessment has also shown the devastating of the Boko Haram and insurgency in Borno state with a huge impact on basic education.
This state of insecurity has forced many parents to keep their daughters away from schools. The long-term effects of this in the northeast include reduced enrollment, permanent dropout of students, and withdrawal of educational personnel leading to a shortage of teachers and increasing early child marriages.
Conclusively insecurity arising from the insurgency, banditry and kidnapping poses a problem for the states in affected areas. The vulnerability of children to traumatic experiences such as the killing of loved ones right before their very eyes has detrimental consequences on their mental and psychological well being according to research and this makes children experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) such as irritability, insomnia, fear, aggression, and confusion which greatly affects their ability to have a loving relationship with their family and friends.
The insurgents have displaced over one million people in northeastern Nigeria (NEMA, 2015). It also becomes a threat to the entire countries in the sub-region with their activities greatly crippled the socio-economic activities between Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger Republic, and the Republic of Chad.
The Boko Haram insurgency in Northeastern region of Nigeria, has slow down the nation’s ability to ever achieving the targets of Sustainable Development Goals 4 (SDG’S).
There have been suggestions that the Federal and State government should provide sufficient security presence in schools across the country to enhance and to give protection.
The logistics and financing needed for its execution was a huge burden on government hence the Safe Schools Initiative with a series of research, campaign and programme activities in collaboration between Theirworld and the Global Business Coalition for Education to raise the profile of safe schools and learning environments in times of conflict and emergencies.
The first Safe Schools Initiative was launched in Nigeria in May 2014 after 276 girls were kidnapped from their school in Chibok, with an investment from the Global Business Coalition for Education and matching contributions from the Government of Nigeria and the international donor community, championed by A World at School.
Its main objectives included:
- Moving students in the highest-risk areas to schools to safer parts of the country
- A programme for rebuilding schools and adding security
- Teaching and education materials for displaced children in camps
- Provision and distribution of learning materials
- Teacher training
With a new government in Nigeria in 2015, many of the Safe Schools Initiative’s activities were not pursued as a policy priority. Campaigners are calling for the initiative to be revived and reinstated.
Lastly, the joint approach of the Nigerian government with support from some regional bodies to end the insurgency must be intensified to facilitate more successes and the citizens must be encouraged to offer information to the security agencies to prevent counter efforts and mayhem, but we are also suggesting that, the United Nations should continue to support the Nigerian government and African union effort, to put an end to insurgency in Nigeria as well as create new policies that promotes girl child education in Nigeria.
Article authored by Teamcoby-Nigeria, a social enterprise focused on advocacy, grassroots community mobilization and engagement through projects that cuts across education, health, environment and livelihood support in low income communities. We currently advocate and champions sustainable menstruation and hygiene management and produce Eco Reusable Menstrual Pad to fight period poverty, reduce menstrual inequality, reduce the undue financial burden that girls and women bear due to menstruation and also address the environmental/plastic pollution, associated with disposable sanitary pads, a major climate change crisis globally. Teamcoby-Nigeria is committed to ending period and water poverty, promotion of WASH and distribution of #Eco Reusable sanitary pads.