The United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) has lamented the killing in a village in Borno, of two primary school pupils by a man said to be mentally imbalanced, even as it called on Nigeria to properly implement Safe School Declaration which it was part of.
In a statement today, the UNCEF Representative in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall said said that the 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.”
Fall said that this was the first attack on a school in northeast Nigeria in more than two years, recalling that the last attack took place in 2015 when Euga primary school, in Bauchi State, was attacked by Boko Haram.
He said that since 2014, an estimated 1,500 schools have been targeted by armed groups in northeast, causing at least 1,280 deaths among school children and their teachers.
“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.
“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.
“We grieve with those who lost their children today, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the injured children who are in the hospital.”
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