UNICEF condemns abduction of students in Nigeria News
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UNICEF condemns abduction of students in Nigeria

UNICEF condemned on Tuesday the armed attack on a Government Girls School in the Maga community of Kebbi State in Nigeria, which led to the death of the vice principal and the abduction of 25 students.

In a statement, UNICEF urged: “Students, education facilities, and their personnel should be protected under international law from any form of attack, and those responsible for this incident must be held to account in accordance with national and international standards.” Deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq also called for the release of all abducted children.

The attack occurred on November 17. According to local news sources, a group of armed bandits entered the school, attacked the guards, killed a member of staff, and abducted a group of 25 students. No group has claimed responsibility. Reportedly only one student has so far managed to escape and return home. The spokesperson for the president of Nigeria, Bayo Onanuga, said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has postponed his departure for the G20 Summit of leaders in South Africa to intensify rescue efforts for the remaining girls. Onanuga confirmed the president’s directive to security forces “to do everything possible to rescue the 24 schoolgirls, abducted by the bandits and bring the girls back home.”

Nigeria ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991. Article 35 obliges States to take all appropriate measures to prevent the abduction of children, and Article 28 recognizes the right of children to education. Accordingly, this access to education should not pose a risk to the life and physical integrity of children, as protected by Article 6. In 2015, Nigeria also endorsed the Safe School Declaration, demonstrating commitment to several guidelines to ensure the safety of children during education in times of conflict.

This is not the first attack in Nigeria against educational facilities. In April 2014, Boko Haram militants abducted 276 girls from Chibok secondary school. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) found Nigeria responsible for grave and systematic violations of the rights of girls in 2024 for failing to protect the abducted. Since then, reports have determined that 1,683 students have been kidnapped in Nigerian schools between February 2014 and December 2022.

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