Amnesty International has issued a scathing rebuke of Nigerian authorities following the abduction of more than 230 students in separate incidents across Kebbi and Niger States this week, warning that the government is still failing to protect children in northern communities.
The rights organisation said the latest attacks highlight a disturbing pattern of repeated assaults on schools—violence that has already forced hundreds of institutions to shut down and derailed the education of thousands of children in states including Katsina and Plateau.
“The Nigerian authorities are failing children,” said Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria. “School children in some parts of northern Nigeria are constantly at risk of death or abduction.”
Amnesty recalled that over 780 children were kidnapped in 2021 alone from schools and religious centres, with some losing their lives during the raids. Sanusi said the recurring attacks show that authorities “never cared to learn any lessons from such previous incidents.”
Teachers in Zamfara, Katsina and Niger have reportedly observed a sharp drop in school attendance since 2021, as many students fear returning to classrooms. Families, especially in rural areas, are also withdrawing young girls from school entirely, opting instead for early marriages out of fear they might be kidnapped.
“The future of thousands of school children in northern Nigeria remains bleak, as hundreds of schools in some states have been closed indefinitely due to rising insecurity,” Sanusi warned. “Hundreds of children may entirely abandon education due to the psychological trauma of witnessing violent attacks or living in captivity.”
The group emphasised that attacks on educational institutions carry “major and far-reaching” consequences, stressing that Nigeria bears a legal obligation under international law to safeguard children from killings, intimidation and abductions.
“There is a deliberate attack on children by armed groups. Using children as shields or bargaining chips is unacceptable and must stop,” Sanusi said, urging the government to classify the assaults as potential war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Amnesty International called for stronger security measures around schools and demanded the arrest and fair prosecution of all those responsible.
“No child should go through what children are going through now in northern Nigeria. Education should not be a matter of life and death for anyone. Nigeria is failing children once again in a horrifying manner,” Sanusi added.
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