The Boko Haram carnage has notched up the casualty figures to 2,053 civilians in six months, this year alone, and reinforced the determination of the Islamic sect to prevent children from going to school.
School children
And it seems to be succeeding in returning those in its grip to the dark ages.
Borno State has shut all secondary schools in its domain and Abuja has shut down all federal government colleges, also known as unity schools, in the entire North East. The abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, was the climax.
Boko Haram literally means “western education is sin”.
The murderers make no pretence about their objective to attack western education in all its forms. Their baseline is driving fear into the hearts of parents and their schooling children.
A total 59 children, aged between 11 to 16, were murdered at night by the jihadists on February 25. Each was shot or locked in their dormitory and set ablaze at the Government Secondary School, Buni Yadi, Yobe State. The attack, the third in succession on schools, sent a shockwave across the land, bringing sharply into focus the brutality of the terrorists and the increasing casualty of children in the war.
It provoked a public outrage and led to a ‘Nigerian Women Mourn’ walk on March 6 in Lagos, Abuja and London.
Since the 2011 Christmas Day bombing of St. Theresa Church, Suleja, Niger State, where 37 worshippers – mostly children –perished, there has been a steady increase in children’s casualty in the insurrection which began in 2009. Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) published in New York on February 27, 2014 a report titled Education Under Attack, which shows the gravity of the situation.
It listed Nigeria as among 70 countries where, according to its Director, Diya Nijhowne, children are “bombed, burned, shot, threatened, and abducted precisely because of their connection to education”.
Of the 9,600 attacks worldwide, Boko Haram’s strategy fits “a pattern of deliberate attacks” where violence is used as a “tactic of war,” said the report.
It recommends the creation of “safe zones” around schools. But this has proved impossible in the North East. As a result, the “loss of education” by children is spreading across the region.
Amnesty International (AI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) focused on human rights, reported that more than 50 schools were attacked and partially destroyed or burned down in the first seven months of 2013, most of them in Borno and Yobe states.
The Borno State Ministry of Education confirmed that over 15,000 children stopped attending school between February and May 2013 because of the attacks. The situation has degenerated in 2014. And the relentless attacks and destruction of schools threaten education in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states, even as the three are under state of emergency.
Recently, the federal government closed unity schools in the North East.
On March 17, the Borno government closed all secondary schools indefinitely. Governor Kashim Shettima said the closure is indefinite until security improves. But for this year’s West Africa Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), a few schools were opened, including the Government Secondary School, Chibok, where the terrorists, on April 14, abducted over 200 children. More than 110 days after their abduction, they were yet to be rescued.
There is no indication that the situation will improve soon. Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, boasted in a recent video about the resolve of the terrorists to continue to destroy schools and said he would sell the schoolgirls in his grip.
President of Women Arise Initiative, Joe Okei-Odumakin, said Boko Haram’s callous attacks on women and children aim at destroying the family fabric.
She said: “Women and children are the most vulnerable in the community; they are the ones who keep the homestead. It is also because of the hatred the attackers have for women and children, the lack of respect for women and the attitude of the attackers to children.
“In most cases, women and children are often unable to defend themselves; and so when the communities are attacked, they are often caught unawares.”
Boko Haram leaves many Nigerian families emotional wrecks, killing their children who make them happy. They are like the Biblical Rachel who was inconsolable over the loss of her children.
But author and public affairs analyst, Ogu Nwadike, said the scar would one day heal.
Said he: “It is one national sore that is still festering. But like other sores, it will heal, God willing. The only difference is that because of the magnitude of the sore, it will definitely leave a scar.
“Like the Biafran war, till today, some families have not recovered. So, families will be affected for a long time. Families will be traumatised, especially the ones whose wards were abducted for sex or whatever.”
Article 77 of the Geneva Convention says, “Children shall be the object of special respect and shall be protected against any form of indecent assault. The parties to (a) conflict shall provide them with the care and aid they require, whether because of their age or for any other reason.”
Rather than protect children, Boko Haram has turned them into objects of attacks.
Odumakin said it is obvious that the families and communities who have suffered loss can never remain the same again.
“The families and communities are already devastated. Economic, social and political life of the communities have been destroyed, even if they are rehabilitated, which is never properly done by the government, the communal relationship of the families and communities are never regained.”
She noted that professionals such as health practitioners – doctors, nurses and other health workers – have started fleeing the attacked areas.
“Economic activities have collapsed and the people have lost their means of livelihood, as they are now at the mercy of the government. The several lives that were lost, most of which were women and children, can never be regained. This will surely have a downturn on the communities and the people.”
Odumakin advocated that the government and civil society groups should create rehabilitation centres for the survivors of Boko Haram attacks. She suggested provision of food, water, shelter, recreation, as well as social work experts and trauma counsellors for the victims.
Nwadike added that the effect of Boko Haram will be too traumatising in time to come.
“That is for sure. That is why all Nigerians, especially people of the North East, must concertedly contend against Boko Haram insurgency.
“The future survivors of killings and maiming may never forgive their leaders for allowing so much wanton destruction to the lives and property of their progenitors. That has partly been responsible for the unabating violent crimes in the South East,” he said.