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ABUJA,
(CAJ News) – THERE are mixed fortunes following the release of more than 300 schoolboys kidnapped recently at a government school northern Nigeria.
An armed group, believed to be the infamous Boko Haram, had been holding the minors hostage since an attack on the Government Boys Science Secondary School in the Katsina State.
The attack that occurred last week shocked the world.
Peter Hawkins, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative in Nigeria, welcomed the release of some boys.
“I am relieved to hear that about 344 children are reported to have been released last (Saturday) night,” the envoy said.
“We look forward to their safe returns to their families. If any are still being held, we call on the attackers to release all children immediately.”
The United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) has decried incessant attacks on schools and pupils in the country describing such happenings as “far too often.”
While reacting to the release of the Kankara boys who were kidnapped nine days ago in Katsina State, the UNICEF’s Country’s Representative, Mr. Peter Hawkins said that “attacks directly targeting children in the middle of the night, in a place where they should feel safe, was an outrage. Schools should be safe. Children should never be the target of attacks – and yet, far too often in Nigeria, they are precisely that – victims of attacks on their schools,” he said.
Hawkins said, “Children should never be the target of attacks, and yet, far too often in Nigeria, they are precisely the victims of attacks on their schools. This incident is a disturbing reminder of the heavy toll that violence takes on civilians in North West Nigeria, including children. No cause justifies attacks against children and schools. Such cruel disregard for humanity must come to an end.”
Hawkins further said such attacks deprived children of the right to education and that they made children fearful of going to the classroom, and parents afraid to send their children to school, adding that, “Schools must be safe places to study and develop, and learning cannot become a perilous endeavour.”
Statement by UNICEF Nigeria Representative Peter Hawkins on the release of schoolboys in Katsina
Format
ABUJA, 18 December 2020 – It has been now almost one week exactly since the appalling attack on the Government Boys Science Secondary School in the Kankara Local Government Area of Katsina State – an attack that shocked the country. I am relieved to hear that about 344 children are reported to have been released last night and we look forward to their safe returns to their families. If any are still being held, we call on the attackers to release all children immediately. Any other children still being held captive in Nigeria should also be released.