1,280 school kids, teachers killed since 2014 in north east Nigeria —UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday, lamented that since 2014, an estimated 1,500 schools have been targeted by armed groups in northeast Nigeria, causing at least 1,280 deaths among school children and their teachers,

This was contained in a statement by Mohamed Malick Fall, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria.

Fall was reacting to an attack in on a school in Borno State which left three children dead.

A mentally ill man, identified as Gaji Adamu, on Thursday went wild and attacked the school with a machete, killing three pupils.

A school teacher and some other pupils were reported to have been injured by Adamu during the attack which occured around 9.30am.

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The police, in a statement by its spokesman, Victor Isuku, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said the suspect was mobbed by a crowd, and that he would have been killed but for the intervention of the police who rescued and rushed him to a hospital where he was treated.

Fall in his statement said, “Today’s attack on a primary school in the town of Kuaya kusar, Borno State, in which two children were brutally killed and two others injured, is a despicable act.

“Words never come easily when children’s lives are taken in such a heinous and deliberate act of violence, especially when it happens in a school, where children should be safe and free from danger.

“This is the first attack on a school in northeast Nigeria in more than two years. The last attack took place in 2015 when Euga primary school, in Bauchi State, was attacked by Boko Haram.

“Since 2014, an estimated 1,500 schools have been targeted by armed groups in northeast Nigeria, causing at least 1,280 deaths among school children and their teachers.

‘’Nigeria has endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration by which it commits to implement the guidelines for protecting schools and universities from attacks and military use during armed conflict’’.

‘’UNICEF calls upon all parties to respect the civilian character of schools and hospitals, and to stop all grave violations against children”, he said.

 

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