Nigeria has been ranked fourth among countries with the highest number of “grave violations” against school children in armed conflict, according to a United Nations report.
The UN Secretary-General’s 2024 report on children and armed conflict, released in 2025, revealed 41,370 verified attacks — the highest number of violations against children in nearly three decades.
These violations, which include abduction, recruitment, and sexual violence, placed Nigeria behind Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Somalia.
Israel recorded 8,554 cases of grave violations in 2024, followed by 4,043 in the DRC, 2,568 in Somalia, 2,436 in Nigeria, and 2,269 in Haiti.
While non-state armed groups were responsible for nearly half of the attacks, the report noted that government forces were the main perpetrators of killings, maiming, attacks on schools and hospitals, as well as the denial of humanitarian access.
It further revealed that attacks on schools surged globally by 44 per cent between 2022 and 2023, while the use of schools for military purposes rose by 20 per cent. During this period, more than 10,000 students and teachers were killed, abducted, arrested, or injured.
“These violations threaten not only individual lives but the future of entire communities,” the report stated.
Virginia Gamba, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, warned that children caught in conflicts are being “robbed of their childhood” as governments and armed groups persist in violating international laws.
The report also disclosed that more than 3,000 children were detained for alleged association with armed groups, an increase from the previous year. Gamba urged governments to treat these children primarily as victims and to consider alternatives to detention.
It recommended full implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration and called on countries to strengthen resilient education systems.
The release of the report comes ahead of a high-level event in Geneva to mark the International Day to Protect Education from Attack.
Nigeria, which endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration in 2018, developed a policy on violence-free schools in 2021 and established the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre to oversee security funding and coordination. However, implementation has faced challenges, with enrollment under the initiative standing at just 11,000 by mid-2025.
