BY TEMI OHAKWE, ABUJA – The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), on Monday called for the immediate and unconditional release of the 150 abducted students from the Salihu Tanko Ishlamiya School, Tegina in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger state.
This is as it also called on the Nigerian Government to take all measures to protect schools in the country, and implement the promises made in the Financing Safe Schools in Nigeria Conference in April 2021, stressing that schools must be safe places to study and develop, adding that learning should not be a risky endeavor.
It said; “There are very few – if any – things more important for any society than ensuring the safe education of its children”.
UNICEF representative in Nigeria, Rushnan Murtaza, who stated these in a statement made available to Forefront News in Abuja , expressed deep concern about the fate of the children, some of whom are as young as 3 years of age and called on their abductors to immediately and unconditionally release them.
In the words of UNICEF; “We are appalled that two weeks after 150 students were abducted from their school, they continue to be held by their abductors.
“Parents are grieving their children’s ‘disappearance’; siblings are missing their brothers and sisters – these children must be immediately and unconditionally released and safely reunited with their families.
“It is horrifying that schools and schoolchildren continue to be targets of attack – and in this particular incident, even children as young as 3 years old. We can only begin to imagine how frightened they are, and the impact this will have on their mental health and well-being,” it said.
UNICEF stressed that attacks on students and schools are gross violation of the right of children to an education, stressing that it is a right that any society can ill-afford to violate.
