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Nigeria: 10 Years after Chibok, Schoolchildren Still at Risk – HRW

Published

2 years ago

April 12, 2024

Ochuwa Ibrahim

Nigeria: 10 Years after Chibok, Schoolchildren Still at Risk – HRW

…Urges Government To Implement Safe Schools Plan to Protect Schools, Children

By: Our Reporter

Ten years after the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigerian authorities have failed to put in place and sustain crucial measures to provide a secure learning environment for every child, Human Rights Watch said today.

Since 2014, according to Save the Children, more than 1,600 children have been abducted or kidnapped across northern Nigeria. In the northeast, the armed conflict between Boko Haram and Nigerian armed forces continues to take its toll and, in the northwest, criminal groups commonly called bandits are terrorizing communities. During February and March 2024 alone, bandits kidnapped over 200 children from their schools in Kaduna and Sokoto states.

“For many children across northern Nigeria, the pursuit of an education means facing the constant threat of abduction or kidnapping,” said Anietie Ewang, Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Children should never face the harrowing dilemma of sacrificing their safety for education, but this untenable choice, which echoes the profound insecurity plaguing the country, is thrust upon them daily.”

On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram, an Islamist armed group, abducted 276 girls from their school in Chibok, a town in northeastern Borno state, sparking global outrage. Although some of the girls escaped, or were released or rescued, 96 remain in captivity according to UNICEF, and civil society groups continue to pressure the government to ensure they are rescued. Boko Haram, known for its opposition to education, has carried out other such abductions, including one of 110 girls from a school in Dapchi, a town in Yobe state, in 2018.

In addition to kidnappings by Boko Haram in the northeast, the ongoing banditry crisis in the northwest has in recent years made that area a hub for criminal kidnapping for ransom. The crisis emerged after years of conflict between herders and farmers, giving rise to the criminal groups, which have carried out widespread killings, looting, extortion, and kidnapping for ransom in mostly rural communities.

Between December 2020 and February 2021, a series of high-profile incidents, including the abduction of over 600 schoolchildren across Zamfara, Katsina, and Niger states, thrust the kidnapping issue into the spotlight.

In the aftermath of Chibok, the Nigerian government endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, an international political commitment to protect education from attack and schools from military use which turns them into targets. The government also adopted a Safe School Initiative for Nigeria with the support of the global community and Nigerian business leaders. The initiative aimed to raise funds with an initial US$10 million pledge to help make schools safer, including by moving them to safer areas and creating a safe school model for schools across Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, the three states worst hit by the Boko Haram insurgency.

However, the multi-stakeholder initiative faced problems, and there has been a decline in momentum over the years with little or no progress made in fortifying schools, Human Rights Watch said. In 2021, Nigeria’s then-Senate president Ahmad Lawan, following an investigation into the utilization of the funds for the initiative, declared that it was designed to fail without a National Policy and Strategy for the Safe School Initiative and the leadership of the Federal Education Ministry. In the meantime, communities continue to suffer the brunt of bandit attacks and schoolchildren remain vulnerable prey.

A Chibok girl who was in Boko Haram captivity for over two years, and was released with 20 others, told Human Rights Watch that news of school kidnappings brings back memories of her ordeal. “Whenever I hear that more children have been kidnapped, I feel terrible, helpless,” she said. “We are still not safe … It brings back memories of what happened to me. I can never forget being snatched from my parents, my family for so long. I pray this is not the case for those that are kidnapped.” She is now a 28-year-old university student studying natural and environmental sciences.

Kemi Okenyodo, an expert in security and governance and the executive director of the Rule of Law and Empowerment Initiative in Abuja, told Human Rights Watch that the ongoing school kidnappings, resembling those in Chibok a decade ago, highlight a failure to learn from past experiences, as they are taking place without adequate security infrastructure or intervention from authorities to prevent dozens or hundreds of children being snatched away at once.

Amid the heightened threat of attacks on schools, many have been forced to shut down completely, with more than 20 million children out of school in Nigeria, according to UNESCO, among the highest number in any country in the world. According to UNICEF, 66 percent of out-of-school children in Nigeria are from the northeast and northwest, which are among the poorest regions in the country.

For girls especially, the challenges are double edged. They risk rape and other forms of sexual violence if kidnapped, and if kept out of school, they risk child marriage, which is a common practice in these regions.

In 2021, the government adopted the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence Free Schools aimed at improving school security, strengthening the capabilities of security agents to respond to threats, and ensuring that education continues for children displaced by conflict and crisis, among other reasons.

The authorities committed to investing 144.8 billion naira (about $314.5 million at the time) over a certain period to finance this initiative. In 2023, they announced that 15 billion naira (about $24 million at the time) had been earmarked to pilot the initiative in 18 high-risk states and 48 schools. However, details of the implementation are sparse, and it remains unclear the extent to which this has been done.

Okenyodo told Human Rights Watch that the government needs to involve communities in designing and implementing initiatives to make schools safer to create a sense of ownership and reduce inefficiency and corruption.

“Now more than ever, the Nigerian authorities should step up efforts to make learning safe for children,” Ewang said. “They should work with communities to adopt rights-respecting measures and put in place adequate financing, systems, and structures to ensure quick, effective, and transparent implementation to ensure that children can learn without being exposed to grave harm.”

Nigeria: 10 Years after Chibok, Schoolchildren Still at Risk – HRW

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VP SHETTIMA TO NISS COURSE 18: President Tinubu Acting Decisively To Frontally Address Nigeria’s Security Challenges

Published

7 hours ago

December 10, 2025

Ochuwa Ibrahim

VP SHETTIMA TO NISS COURSE 18: President Tinubu Acting Decisively To Frontally Address Nigeria’s Security Challenges

Says president determined to advance security establishment in the country and beyond

By: Our Reporter

The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has remained steadfast in tackling security challenges in the country, and is acting quickly and decisively to frontally address the concerns.

According to him, the Tinubu administration is determined to support the security establishment in Nigeria and beyond to discharge their responsibilities to the nation.

The Vice President stated this on Tuesday when the faculty and participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 18 of the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) visited him at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Led by the NISS Commandant, Mr Joseph Odama, representatives of the 78 participants were at the Presidential Villa to present the executive brief of their end-of-course report to the Vice President who received the report on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Speaking on the significance of the programme, which had participants drawn from MDAs within Nigeria and beyond, the Vice President said he was impressed with the composition of the EIMC 18, noting that “the security of Africa is a collective responsibility of all stakeholders given the peculiarity of the situation.”

He said, “President Tinubu is working round the clock to address concerns in the security sector. It is absolutely essential that we fuse as one to address these issues and all hands must be on deck to salvage the situation.”

The highpoint of the occasion was the presentation of the report titled, “Non-state Actors in Security Management in Africa: Issues, Challenges and Prospects for Peace and Development” by representatives of the EIMC 18 participants.

Among recommendations made by the participants was the formal harmonisation and integration of a country-base security initiative as part of a broad strategy to strengthen the existing legal framework for peace and conflict resolution across Nigeria and Africa.

Earlier, the Commandant of the NISS, Joseph Odama, told the Vice President that the 18th edition of the flagship programme, EMIC 18 commenced on February 19, 2025, pointing out that it had “been a ten-month journey of intense intellectual discovery, strategic broadening and unparalleled professional fellowship.”

Noting that this year’s team was composed of 78 distinguished participants of the rank of Deputy Directors and above, Odama said they “were meticulously drawn from the military, para-military, law enforcement agencies and strategic ministries, departments and agencies of both federal and state governments.

“In significant testament to our pan-African mandate, we were privileged to host five African countries, which had earlier been mentioned. With the graduation of the AIMC 18, the institute has proudly graduated 1,130 strategic leaders.

“These are men and women who have been rigorously equipped to think critically and act decisively, as well as proffer innovative solutions to the most complex security and developmental challenges facing our nation and the continent at large.”

The Commandant expressed the institute’s deepest appreciation to President Tinubu and the Vice President for their visionary and pragmatic leadership, saying the Renewed Hope Agenda under the President’s stewardship was already manifesting in tangible progress across the nation.

VP SHETTIMA TO NISS COURSE 18: President Tinubu Acting Decisively To Frontally Address Nigeria’s Security Challenges

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Zulum assures FSTC Lassa of adequate security

Published

7 hours ago

December 10, 2025

Ochuwa Ibrahim

Zulum and Salau during the address to the staff and students of FSTC Lassa.

Zulum assures FSTC Lassa of adequate security

By: Bodunrin Kayode

Borno Governor Babagana Zulum has assured management of the Federal Science and technical College Lassa of adequate security for their existence as long as he remains chief security officer of the state.

Prof Zulum assured the management and students of an instant beef up of their security, to ensure that nobody will be endangered or exposed to being kidnapped by insurgents again.

The Governor noted that he will be providing the school with adequate security by deploying a fully equipped squad of civilian joint task forces (JTF) and vigilante to take care of their vigilance and security from now on.

The Governor who was in the school recently to feel their paulse after it was rebuilt from the last attack however urged them to be careful about the girl child admissions in the school obviously to discourage frequent abduction of girls by insurgents.

He suggested that boys other than girls should be hosted in the school’s dormitories for now for obvious reasons adding that he will surely look into the shortage of accommodation encountered by them as a long term fixer.

The Governor also assured that he Will provide more accommodation to teachers in the school adding that fencing will be addressed as soon as possible coupled with a new gate to secure the entrance.

On the need to recruit more teachers, the Governor directed that the Principal should screen some teachers he handpicked on the spot who will be enrolled by the Borno teachers board and posted to teach in their school.

This enrolment he stressed will take place based on the strict requirements of eleven key areas in line with the curriculum of technical schools and they would receive automatic employments from the state government.

On water supply to the school, Zulum assured that he will treat their demands for borehole, toilet and necessary water and sanitation (WASH) demands as priority for the kids

Earlier, the most senior teacher on ground and representative of the Principal Abubakar Salau said that since the last attack of the institution, confidence has been building up which is why they now have 230 students out of which 80 are girls and a total of 61 teaching and non teaching staff.

On Challenges, the Governor assured that the vigilante will be empowered to support the CJTF to secure the place.

“We will fix the fence where it has been damaged and I assure you that we will restore your gate accordingly to ensure all is safe.

“We need a gate to secure the students, more teachers in maths, metal and woodwork, chemistry and physics” teacher Salau had hinted.

Zulum assures FSTC Lassa of adequate security

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Nigeria’s Education Budget Jumps To ₦3.52trn Under President Tinubu

Published

7 hours ago

December 10, 2025

Ochuwa Ibrahim

Nigeria’s Education Budget Jumps To ₦3.52trn Under President Tinubu

** VP Shettima says out-of-school children pose national emergency, calls for private sector co-investment

By: Michael Mike

Nigeria’s education budget has jumped to ₦3.52 trillion in 2025 under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, which is a significant increase from ₦1.54 trillion in 2023.

Vice President Kashim Shettima, who stated this in Tuesday in Abuja, said that the number of out-of-school children in the country constitutes a national emergency, calling for collaboration between government and private sector stakeholders to address the problem.

Represented by the Special Adviser to the President on General Duties (Office of the Vice President), Dr. Aliyu Modibo Umar at the opening of the 2025 Nigeria Education Forum in Abuja, VP Shettima noted that education spending under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu reflects the administration’s unwavering commitment to building an enlightened and globally competitive population.

The forum, organised by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the Federal Ministry of Education, and the Committee of States’ Commissioners of Education, focused on the theme “Pathways to Sustainable Education Financing: Developing a Synergy Between Town and Gown in Nigeria.”

Senator Shettima said, “Nothing threatens a civilisation more than an uneducated generation. Nations rise when the people, regardless of circumstance, are equipped with the knowledge to imagine a better future and the skills to build it.”

The Vice President emphasised that Nigeria has reached a critical inflection point where traditional government-only funding models can no longer sustain the country’s educational needs. He called for a fundamental shift toward collaborative, innovative, and resilient financing mechanisms.

In his words: “The burden cannot rest on government alone. We must enlist private sector actors, industry leaders, alumni networks, philanthropists, and communities to co-invest in laboratories, research centres, vocational hubs, innovation clusters, and endowment funds.”

VP Shettima detailed substantial increases across key education funding agencies under the President Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope plan, where, for example, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) budget grew from ₦320.3 billion in 2023 to ₦683.4 billion in 2024, and now stands at ₦1.6 trillion in 2025.

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has distributed ₦92.4 billion in matching grants to 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Another ₦19 billion has supported teacher development across 32 states and the FCT, while ₦1.5 billion has reached more than 1,147 communities. Individual state UBE grants have increased from approximately ₦1.3 billion to over ₦3.3 billion, allowing states to access more than ₦6.6 billion through counterpart funding arrangements.

The newly created Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), established under the Student Loans Act of 2024, has already disbursed ₦86.3 billion to over 450,000 students in 218 tertiary institutions nationwide.

According to the Vice President, “This Fund signals a new era where no Nigerian is denied tertiary education for lack of money.

“The learning crisis cannot be solved without safe and well-equipped schools, from basic classrooms to technical laboratories. Teachers must enjoy adequate training, welfare, and professional recognition if they are to deliver the outcomes our children deserve.”

He called for deliberate collaboration across federal, state, and local government levels, emphasising the importance of prompt counterpart funding, transparent utilisation of resources, and strict adherence to action plans.

“Since education begins in the community, local governments and traditional institutions must take responsibility for infrastructure development, school maintenance, security, and teacher welfare.

“We are here today because we do not treat education as just a line item in the national budget. We treat it as the foundation of our national identity, the engine of our economic transformation, and the shield of our collective security,” the Vice President said.

Nigeria’s Education Budget Jumps To ₦3.52trn Under President Tinubu