The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Accountability Project (SERAP) on Friday condemned the attack by bandits and abduction of 317 female students of Government Girls Secondary School Jangebe in Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
Recall that gunmen raided the all-female boarding school early Friday and kidnapped the girls, marking the third mass abduction of children since December in Nigeria.
The assailants, it was gathered, struck the school in a predawn ambush, teachers and residents said, waking up the town as shots rang out.
By daylight the police said 317 girls were taken away by the marauders.
“The Zamfara State Police Command in collaboration with the military have commenced a joint search and rescue operations with a view to rescuing the 317 students kidnapped by the armed bandits in Government Girls Science Secondary School Jangebe,” said the police in a statement.
No one has asserted responsibility for the attack, but criminal gangs known as “bandits” are increasingly seizing groups for ransom — a menace that has prompted some Nigerians to call for a national state of emergency.
Reacting to the sad development, UNICEF called for the immediate and unconditional release of all the abducted female students and their return to their families.
In a statement, UNICEF representative in Nigeria, Mr. Peter Hawkins, said the attack on the children is a gross violation on the children’s rights and horrific experience for children to go through.
“UNICEF today (Friday) expressed concern at reports of an overnight attack at the Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State, north-west Nigeria, where an unconfirmed number of schoolgirls were kidnapped.
“We are angered and saddened and by yet another brutal attack on schoolchildren in Nigeria.
“This is a gross violation of children’s rights and a horrific experience for children to go through – one which could have long-lasting effects on their mental health and well-being.
We utterly condemn the attack and call on those responsible to release the girls immediately and for the government to take steps to ensure their safe release and the safety of all other schoolchildren in Nigeria.
“Children should feel safe at home and at school at all times – and parents should not need to worry for the safety of their children when they send them off to school in the morning,” said Hawkins.
He acknowledged efforts made by the federal government to secure the release of kidnapped schoolchildren in Nigeria and called on the government and all concerned to make schools safe in Nigeria.
Similarly, sent an open letter to the UN Security Council and its members urging them to treat the failure of Nigerian authorities to prevent and prosecute attacks on students, and to end the growing insecurity in the country as a fundamental breach of the UN Charter and Nigeria’s international human rights obligations.
In the letter dated 26 February and signed by SERAP’s deputy director Mr. Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said attacks on schools and abductions of students were a violation of children’s rights.
“According to our information, some armed men today abducted over 300 schoolgirls at Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in the Talata-Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State. The armed men arrived in the school around 1am with Hilux vehicles and motorcycles and abducted the students.”
”SERAP is concerned that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is failing to uphold its responsibility to protect Nigerian students from increasing abductions, and attacks on other people by armed men, and if not urgently addressed these abductions and attacks may constitute threat to regional peace and security, and by extension, international peace and security.”
“Ensuring the release of the students and holding perpetrators accountable will contribute to ending impunity. A UN Security Council resolution would help to put pressure on the Nigerian authorities to take urgent and concrete measures to end the abductions of students, secure their safety and promote the security and safety of all Nigerians. The Security Council must act now to protect Nigerian students and other citizens, if the Council is not to be accused of failing the people of Nigeria,” SERAP said.
