UN chief welcomes release of Nigerian school boys; Abduction not stage-managed – FG

New York, Dec. 19, 2020

The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, on Friday welcomed the release of the 344 schoolboys forcibly taken away from their school in northwest Nigeria a week ago.

After the release of the boys, kidnapped by armed men from Government Science Secondary School in Kankara on 11 December, Guterres called for the “immediate and unconditional release of those who remain abducted.”

In a statement issued by his Deputy Spokesperson, Farhan Haq, Mr. Guterres commended “the swift action taken by the Nigerian authorities to rescue the children” while also stressing the importance that those children and their families are now “provided with the necessary health and psychosocial support”.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government of Nigeria has described as senseless the claim in certain quarters that the abduction of the students from their school in Kankara, Katsina State, and their release were stage-managed.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, dismissed the claim on Saturday when he featured on a special edition of the Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, programme, “Good Morning Nigeria.’’

A UN statement said the boys arrived by bus in the capital of Katsina, and were met by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. State authorities are saying that the children were abducted by local bandits, casting doubt on the initial claim of responsibility by militant Jihadist group, Boko Haram.

The UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, tweeted that he was “delighted” that the schoolboys had been freed, and congratulated the Nigerian Government for securing their release, while calling on authorities to “make schools safe for teaching and learning”.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Nigeria, pointed out that for one week, “parents were awake at night, crying and awaiting the return of their sons.

“My thoughts and solidarity are with these children, their families and the Kankara community – who have endured an unimaginable ordeal this past week,” said UNICEF Nigeria Representative Peter Hawkins.

The attack in the middle of the night, in a place where children should feel secure, was “an outrage”, the UNICEF envoy said.

“Schools should be safe,” he stressed. “Children should never be the target of attack – and yet, far too often in Nigeria, they are precisely that – victims of attacks on their schools.”

Attacks on educational facilities deprive young people of the right to an education, make them fearful of going to the classroom and cause parents to become frightened of sending their children to school, the UNICEF official explained.

These attacks are a grave violation of children’s rights, according to Mr. Hawkins, who referred to this incident as “a disturbing reminder” of the heavy toll that violence takes on civilians in northwest Nigeria, including children.

The UNICEF representative said: “No cause justifies attacks against children and schools.”

He said that “such cruel disregard for humanity must come to an end”, underscoring that schools be “safe places to study and develop, and learning cannot become a perilous endeavor”.

Mr. Hawkins pushed for interventions to ensure school safety so that “all Nigerian children can learn without fear”.

The Secretary-General called for “increased efforts to safeguard schools and educational facilities in the country” and reiterated the UN’s solidarity and commitment in “supporting the Government and people of Nigeria in their fight against terrorism, violent extremism and organized crime”.

The special edition of the usual weekday NTA programme dedicated to the rescue of the school boys was monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

NAN also recalls that on Feb. 19, 2018, 110 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Science Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe.

When the government secured the release of 104 of the schoolgirls and two other children in March 21, 2018, certain groups, including the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had also alleged that it was stage-managed to score cheap political point.

Reacting to the latest claims, the minister said it does not make sense for any administration to stage-manage the abduction of students or any of its citizens.

“What precisely does government want to achieve? Is it to prove the deficiency of the military or what?

“In the case of Dapchi, we had all kinds of bizarre theories.

“You have to be in government to know how many sleepless nights the president, ministers and heads of security outfits spent until the matter was resolved,’’ he said.

Mohammed said many people were disappointed that the Kankara abduction was resolved so fast just like that of Dapchi.

He said: “Many naysayers would have loved the incident to linger and become the igniting rod for their attacks

“Otherwise, how do we describe the spurious organisation like the Bring Back Our Boys that emerged within a few days of the capture of the students?

“Within a few days of the abduction, the so called organisation had moved to Katsina.

“When you have a situation like this, naysayers who are bent on bringing down the government, will come up with all kinds of theories that do not make sense.

“Dapchi abduction was in 2018, how come two years down the lane, nobody has come out to tell us how it was stage-managed?”

The minister admonished politicians and other interest groups to stop politicising and commercialising issues of security and national tragedy.

“In times of crisis and tragedy people normally come together to address the issue.

“It is not a time to politicise and even trade or commercialise the misery and tragedy of a nation.

“We can have our differences but when it comes to issues of security, we should come together and fight it,’’ he said.

Mohammed noted that it was disappointing that days after the Kankara boys were abducted, some political groups had come to Abuja distributing vests and placing banners all over the streets.

He stressed that times of national crisis such as kidnapping of children should not be used to denigrate the military, adding that people should rather come together to proffer solutions.