Over 1,680 school children kidnapped since 2014 – CSO report indicates

Save the Children International (SCI) has revealed that more than 1,680 schoolchildren have been kidnapped in Nigeria since the 2014 abduction of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno State.

SCI in a new report titled, “Attack on Education”, launched on Thursday in Abuja, said attacks on schools have continued outside the spotlight and highlights the violence that schoolchildren and teachers face across Nigeria.

The report stressed that in addition to the abductions, over 180 schoolchildren were killed and nearly 90 injured in 70 attacks between April 2014 and December 2022, with an estimated 60 school staff kidnapped and 14 killed.

It further noted that 25 school buildings were reportedly destroyed during that period.

The report revealed that the majority of the attacks took place in Northern Nigeria, with the North West recording 49 attacks; followed by North-Central, with 11 attacks.

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The report noted that the attacks have long-lasting consequences for communities and for children’s access to education, often leading to the mass withdrawal of children from school and school closures.

The report said: “In Katsina State in the North-Western part of the country, nearly 100 schools remain closed due to insecurity, affecting the education of over 30,000 children.

“In the aftermath of attacks, children and communities are left traumatised, and the majority do not receive psychological support.”

SCI Country Director, Famari Barro, noted that more needs to be done to prevent attacks but also to support children and their families in the aftermath.

He said during focus group discussions with affected communities, it found that many children were too scared to return to school.

Barro added: “Nearly 10 years after the tragic abduction of the Chibok girls made international headlines, more than 90 of them are still held or missing, and countless children and teachers still live under the threat of violence, forcing many to flee or interrupt their education, sometimes forever.

“The combination of the trauma and loss of education resulting from these attacks is likely to be lifelong unless children are provided with the means and support to recover from the traumatic events they have been through and are able to return to school.

“It is vital that children’s lives and right to education are protected through the implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration across the country.”