Nigerian authorities are failing children as at least 61 children in northern Nigeria remain in captivity, months after their abduction during mass attacks on schools which also terminated the education of thousands of children while putting children in captivity through horrific and degrading treatment in the hands of bandits, Amnesty International Nigeria said on Thursday, December 2.

Children in orphanages, schools and places of worship are often abducted and held in captivity for weeks, sometimes months depending on when or if the demands of their abductors are met. Children in school buses or walking to schools are also sometimes ambushed and abducted for ransom.

“No child should go through what children are going through now in Nigeria. Education should not be a matter of life and death for anyone. Nigeria is failing children once again in a horrifying manner,” says Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

School children in some parts of northern Nigeria are constantly at risk of death or abduction. More than 780 children have been abducted for ransom since February 2021 during mass attacks on schools or religious institutions, with some of the children killed during the attacks. Parents of the abducted children or the school authorities are sometimes made to provide food and clothing for the children while in captivity,” says Osai Ojigho.

https://www.mynigeria.com/NigeriaHomePage/NewsArchive/Escalating-attacks-targeting-children-endanger-right-to-education-in-Nigeria-Amesty-International-502342

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