The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative in Nigeria, Mr. Peter Kawkins has said that insecurity in the country has discouraged many parents from sending their children to school.
Kawkins, in a statement issued on his behalf by UNICEF communications specialist Mr. Geoffrey Njoku, to mark the 2019 edition of ‘Day of the African Child’ said mostly affected are female children who have been victims of kidnapping while at school.
UNICEF Communication Specialist, Mr. Geoffrey Njoku, in a statement on behalf of Mr. Peter Kawkins, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria to mark this year’s Day of the African Child themed: Child Rights in all Situations, Including During Humanitarian Crises, said parents are now so scared to send their children to school due to the high level insecurity in the country.
“About 2,000 youths across 10 Nigerian states, including Abuja, presented petitions to their governors, parliamentarians, policy-makers and other influential persons in a mass effort to draw attention to the need to act on commitments to increasing access to safe, quality education for all children, especially girls.
“The Nigerian campaign for access to quality education will hold the newly-elected government officials at all levels accountable for their campaign promises to provide equitable access to free, safe and quality education for every child, especially the girl child, in Nigeria.
“The 10 states where the mass actions are taking place — Bauchi, Niger, Katsina, Kano, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba and the FCT — have about eight million children not in school and an average enrollment rate of only 57 per cent.
“Schools should be a safe place for children, one in which they can get quality education that will put them on the path to a secured future,” said Kawkins.
Meanwhile, the presidency said President Muhammadu Buhari and the northwest governors were mapping out strategic plan to end criminality in the geo-political zone and in the northern region.
The president’s spokesman, Mr. Mr. Garba Shehu said in a statement in Abuja that the federal government and the northwest state governors were putting heads together for urgent revamp of the national security apparatus in the sub-region following the infiltration of bandits into areas.
According to the statement, the renewed effort to secure the zone came on the heels of the recent killing of 34 persons in an attack on Tungar Kafau and Gidan Wawa communities in Shinkafi Local Government Areas of Zamfara.
President Buhari, who expressed sorrow over the renewed attacks condoled the people of Sokoto and Zamfara states and charged all the security agencies at the state and federal levels involved in drawing up the long-term strategic defence plan to begin its immediate implementation.
“Under the plan, states are joining the Federal Government in supporting the security and military operations by providing logistical support.
“States are providing additional vehicles in addition to those provided from the center. The federal government is establishing new forward operation bases and when all of these come together, the ongoing operations will be scaled up.
“The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the various state emergency management agencies are expected to streamline their operations to provide succor to displaced persons, thousands of whom are taking refuge in the neighboring Niger Republic,” said the president.
With Vanguard report
