Amnesty International has criticised the Nigerian government for failing to protect children following the recent abduction of 315 students and staff members from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri, Niger State.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said that the wave of attacks in northern states showed persistent gaps in the protection of schoolchildren.
“The Nigerian authorities are failing children, as over 230 children in the north are in the captivity of gunmen this week, after their abduction during two mass attacks on schools that also interrupted the education of thousands of children because of closure of hundreds of schools in Katsina, Plateau, and other states,” he said.

Sanusi added that previous incidents have not prompted sufficient preventive measures.
“The latest wave of attacks on schools in Kebbi and Niger State clearly shows Nigerian authorities never cared to learn any lessons from such previous incidents in which some school children were also killed by gunmen. School children in some parts of northern Nigeria are constantly at risk of death or abduction,” he said.

The human rights organisation also warned that the educational future of many children in northern Nigeria is under threat. According to Sanusi, insecurity has forced the indefinite closure of hundreds of schools, while some children, particularly girls, have been withdrawn from school or married off to protect them from possible abduction. “The protection of children’s lives is paramount, and the Nigerian authorities have a duty to ensure that the country’s educational sector is not further threatened by the abductions, intimidation, and killing of school children,” he said.

Amnesty International urged the Nigerian government to investigate the attacks as potential war crimes or crimes against humanity, and to hold perpetrators accountable. “No child should go through what children are experiencing now in northern Nigeria. Education should not be a matter of life and death for anyone. Nigeria is failing children once again in a horrifying manner,” Sanusi added.

The organisation called on authorities to ensure that attacks on schools are properly investigated and that alleged perpetrators face fair trials, emphasising that the right to life and the right to education must be safeguarded.