The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said over 57 per
cent of schools in Borno State remained closed, in spite the new school year,
due to the Boko Haram insurgency in North-East Nigeria...
A statement signed by
UNICEF, Abuja, Chief of Communications, Ms Doune Porter, on Friday said as a
result, an estimated three million children were in need of emergency education
support. “Since 2009, across the North-East, over 2,295 teachers have been
killed and 19,000 displaced. “Almost 1,400 schools have been destroyed with the
majority unable to open because of extensive damage or because they are in
areas that remain unsafe, “ Porter. Porter quoted the Deputy Executive
Director, UNICEF, Mr Justin Forsyth, who said, “Children in North-East Nigeria
are living through so much horror. “In addition to devastating malnutrition,
violence and an outbreak of cholera, the attacks on schools is in danger of
creating a lost generation of children.’’ She, however, stated that UNICEF was
working with partners to rehabilitate schools as well as training teachers, to
build a stronger education system for the future. According to Porter, some
children living in camps for the displaced in Borno are actually benefiting
from education for the first time in their lives. “In the Muna Garage camp on
the outskirts of Maiduguri, for example, an estimated 90 per cent of students
are enrolled in school for the first time. “In the three most-affected states
of North-East Nigeria, UNICEF and partners have enrolled nearly 750,000
children in school this year. “Also, we are establishing over 350 temporary
learning spaces, and distributing almost 94,000 packs of learning materials
that will help children to get education, “ she said. “The use of children as
human bombs, close to 100 so far in 2017, has sown a climate of mistrust among
communities in the North-East. “Also, cholera outbreak has affected more than
3,900 people, including over 2450 children. “ According to her, UNICEF’s
life-saving emergency programmes in the region, however, remains underfunded.
The Chief of Communications noted that with only three months left in the year,
UNICEF had a 40 per cent finding gap in its needs for 2017. NAN
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