According to authorities, more than 600 schools in Nigeria are still closed despite the start of the new school year because of a surge in kidnappings for ransom by armed gangs. Nigeria already has one of the highest rates of out-of-school children in the world, and according to the U.N., the problem has gotten worse
Gunmen in northwest Nigeria’s Kebbi state have freed 30 students and a teacher after seven months of captivity, according to a local official
Following Accusations That Ransom Payments Were Made To Resolve A Spate Of Mass Kidnappings, Nigerian Lawmakers Are Ready To Vote On A Measure Criminalising Them. Families Of Kidnap Victims Have Spoken Out Against The Law, Which Would Impose Harsh Prison Sentences
Child advocates in Nigeria estimate that tens of thousands of young people have been orphaned by Boko Haram militant attacks. But some of them are finding reason to be hopeful about their future
Nigeria re-opened schools October 12, six months after they were closed to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. Students from poor families unable to afford internet for distance learning suffered the most from schools being shuttered
An increased number of Nigerian children are in the labor force right now because schools have closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Experts monitoring child labor in the country say since the pandemic shutdown, more children are working as hawkers, cleaners or on city streets begging to earn money to help their families
Children who escape Boko Haram territory face a raft of violations by the Nigerian authorities, also including crimes under international law. At best, they end up displaced, struggling for survival and with little or no access to education. At worst, they are arbitrarily detained for years in military barracks, in conditions amounting to torture or other ill-treatment.
The terrorist group Boko Haram has exploited high unemployment to recruit new fighters in Cameroon along the Nigerian Border…In 2003, then-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo signed the Child Right Act into law in 2003, to preserve the rights of children and protect them from exploitative labor. But 17 years later, millions of Nigerian children still take on physically challenging work
With Nigeria’s population growing at more than 3% a year, Nigerian authorities are offering free family planning methods and advice to Nigerian families in an effort to slow population growth. Nigeria, which already has the most people in Africa, is projected to have more than 400 million people by 2050, double the number of today
The winners in Nigeria’s general election Saturday will face a disturbing challenge – how to help millions of children in the country suffering from malnutrition