UNICEF tasks Nigerian govt to rehabilitate victims of schools attacks

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has expressed the need for the Federal Government to improve on efforts aimed at rehabilitating victims of schools attacks in the country.

UNICEF education officer and national coordinator of education in emergencies working group, Judith Moses, said this on Thursday, when she featured as a guest on ‘Good Morning Nigeria’, a programme on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

There have been several attacks on schools in the country, especially in the North, which have seen to mass abductions and deaths.

Reports have it that between January and August a total of 821 students have been abducted.

Moses, however, noted that the Federal Government should endeavour to see that school environments are secured and more attractive for children to return after attacks.

Read also: UNICEF says one million kids dropped out of school due to insecurity in Nigeria

He said: “From the legal side, what is being done to investigate issues of attack? What is being done to prosecute? What is being done for victims? Is there anything that is being done? Do we have a robust system?

“We need to have a robust reintegration system whereby there can be some kind of rehabilitation for those that have been affected, abducted or experienced gender-based violence to be healed and face the education system again.

“A safe school is a place that a child looks forward to going to. When you see a child saying I don’t want to go to school, and keeps on saying it, then there is something.

“When that school environment is attractive, we look at the psychosocial support, which is psychological healing. Those experiences, you may not be able to wipe them out and indeed, some children, depending on how severely they have been affected, may need to be referred to a specialist.”

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