Chibok Girls: Ten Years After

The abduction of 276 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State on April, 14, 2014, remains one of the saddest narratives in the nation’s history. Despite the return of 194 girls, the fate of 82 others remained unknown, leaving their families and communities in anguish. Ugo Aliogo examines the 10 years anniversary of the abduction of Chibok girls

On the night of April 14, 2014, 276 mostly Christian female students aged from 16 to 18 were kidnapped by the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram from the Government Girls Secondary School at the town of Chibok in Borno State. Prior to the raid, the school had been closed for four weeks due to deteriorating security conditions, but the girls were in attendance in order to take final examinations in physics.

Amnesty International stated that over the last decade, 276 schoolgirls were abducted from a government secondary school in Chibok, a town in Borno State. Some of the girls escaped captivity on their own, while others were released following intense campaigning efforts from organizations. However, 82 Chiboks girls remain in captivity, while more than 1,400 children have been abducted in subsequent attacks.

Boko Haram has fought a 15-year insurgency battle in northern Nigeria and has kidnapped thousands of people in that time. But the Chibok girls serve as a potent symbol to the world of hope and resilience. The abduction of the Chibok Girls remains a sad narrative in the history of Nigeria.

UNICEF POSITION

Recently, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called for intensified efforts to protect the country’s most vulnerable population—its children.

UNICEF released the “Minimum Standards for Safe Schools (MSSS) Monitoring Report,” revealing a stark reality: the journey toward ensuring every Nigerian child can learn in a safe environment is far from over. Most notably, the report shows that just 37 per cent of schools across 10 states have early warning systems in place to identify threats, such as school attacks.

UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Ms. Cristian Munduate, averred that the kidnapping of the Chibok girls was a wake-up call to the severe risks our children face in their pursuit of education.

She noted that reflecting on the tragedy and other recent abductions, it is evident that all efforts to safeguard our children’s futures must be amplified.

According to her, “Given these alarming statistics, we must address not only the symptoms but also the root causes of this crisis. Education is a fundamental right and a crucial pathway out of poverty. Yet, for too many Nigerian children, it remains an unattainable dream.

“As we remember the Chibok girls and all children whose right to education has been compromised, let this somber anniversary serve as a catalyst for change. However, we must acknowledge the recent abductions, which underscore the persistent vulnerability of our schools. To ensure that schools are safe havens, strong political will and proper implementation of safe school standards are essential. Together, we can restore trust between educational institutions and the communities they serve, ensuring schools are sanctuaries for learning and growth.”

The report examined six result areas such as strong school system, violence against children, natural hazards, conflict, everyday hazards, and safe school infrastructure-and uncovered significant disparities in the implementation of safe school standards across the states.

Borno State, with a 70 per cent fulfilment of the standards, exemplifies a strong commitment to child safety amidst adversity. Yobe State also demonstrates promising progress.

The report further explained that in contrast, Kaduna and Sokoto states lag significantly, with fulfilment rates at just 25 percent and 26 percent, respectively.

In addition to the finding on early warning systems and conflict, the report shows that while schools perform relatively well in terms of training school-based management committees on safety and responding to children’s well-being concerns, only 14 percent of the participating schools across the 10 assessed states have functioning, safe, accessible infrastructure and just 36 percent have school staff trained on natural hazards.

The report comes as a result of increasing cases of violence affecting schools with brazen abductions of students on the rise. In the last 10 years, conflict-related violence has led to more than 1,680 children abducted while at school and elsewhere; 180 children killed due to attacks on schools; an estimated 60 school staff kidnapped and 14 killed; and more than 70 attacks on schools, according verified reports by the United Nations.

The report stated that the threat of abduction of students is severely affecting children’s learning. As of 2021, over one million children were afraid to return to school, and in 2020, around 11,500 schools were closed due to attacks, according to Policy Weekly by Nextier.

UNICEF Nigeria called on the government, partners, and the international community to take decisive action to ensure all schools across all states have the resources and tools to fully implement the Minimum Standards for Safe Schools, focusing on the most vulnerable regions.

According to the report, “Government, partners and the international community need to address critical gaps in safe school infrastructure, preparedness for natural disasters, conflicts, and comprehensive approaches to violence against children. Strengthen law enforcement and security measures to protect educational institutions and communities from attacks and abductions. Prioritize education and child protection in national policies and budget allocations to create a safer, more inclusive environment for all Nigerian children.

“Ensure the continuity of education and learning when schools are shut through multiple learning pathways such as radio and TV programmes and through digital platforms like the Nigeria Learning Passport. UNICEF is working with the government to ensure that every child can access safe learning environments. The agency has supported the inauguration of state safe school steering committees and the drafting of state costed implementation plans for safe schools in 13 states. It also provides school grants, safety kits, training and awareness raising to accelerate the implementation of the Minimum Standards for Safe Schools.”

SAFE SCHOOLS REPORT

Despite improvement in education access and efforts towards gender parity, children’s right to education in Nigeria faces huge challenges. Continued conflicts in the North-east, increasing tensions in the North-west, and the widespread impact of climate change jeopardize children’s safety and ability to learn.

However, Nigeria has committed to safeguarding educational environments through various policies, notably the Minimum Standards for Safe Schools (MSSS). These standards define the essential conditions for ensuring children’s safety in educational settings.

The MSSS remarked that urgent action is required to address deficiencies in several areas, notably in safe school infrastructure, everyday hazards, natural hazards, and conflict.

Priorities include enhancing the physical safety and accessibility of educational facilities, adherence to security and building guidelines, and improving the availability of essential services such as nutrition and WASH.

The MSSS monitoring tool’s pilot in ten states over two rounds in 2023 uncovered a broadly low and static implementation of the MSSS, with merely 9 out of 21 standards being met and an overall average score of 42 per cent across result areas. The implementation at the state level showed considerable variation, from meeting only 5 standards in Kaduna and Sokoto to meeting 15 in Borno.

The report recommended that successful safe school initiatives demand consistent support through both policy and federal and state budget allocations. This report’s findings should guide the development of national and state safe school plans aligned with identified gaps, ensuring adequate resource allocation for necessary interventions at scale.

Federal authorities should ensure adequate support to states to access all resources available for safe school interventions, including from the Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of Finance, while closely monitoring resource expenditure to ensure that the current funding model on safe schools addresses all areas of the MSSS.

At the state level, in addition to integrating school safety priorities in sector plans, authorities should develop and annually review costed state-level safe school implementation plans and budgets, using the findings from the MSSS monitoring. For instance, state-wide programmes in Kaduna could focus on training SBMC members, establishing safety focal points, and rolling out early warning systems, while Borno might prioritize programmes that address children’s nutrition, WASH, and health needs, alongside improving school infrastructure.

BBOG CAMPAIGN

Speaking during the 10th-year commemoration of the #BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) campaign in Abuja, the Chairperson of the Strategy Committee for BringBackOurGirls (BBOG), Florence Ozor, stated that 48 parents of the girls have died without setting eyes on their daughters.

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