“A Generation Under Siege”: Amnesty International Sounds the Alarm as Northern Nigeria’s Children Face the Worst Education Crisis in a Decade
Amnesty International has issued a stark warning that northern Nigeria is sliding into an education emergency that could rob an entire generation of its future. The organisation says the Nigerian government’s persistent failure to prevent or decisively address mass abductions of school children and teachers has now pushed the region to a breaking point.
Following last week’s abduction of more than three hundred students and teachers in Niger State, at least 20,468 schools across seven northern states have been shut indefinitely, a move Amnesty describes as a short-term fix with devastating long-term consequences.
According to Amnesty, the pattern has been the same since the Chibok schoolgirls were taken in 2014; repeated attacks, recurring security lapses, little to no accountability, unfulfilled promises of investigations, and families left in anguish. The organisation notes at least fifteen mass school abductions since Chibok, with many victims still missing and countless families living with no closure.
Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, says what is happening across the north amounts to “an assault on childhood and a total failure to guarantee the safety of school children and teachers.” He adds that the government is failing in both its constitutional and international human-rights obligations to protect lives.
Amnesty highlights a troubling pattern:
- Schools repeatedly targeted despite advance security intelligence.
- State governments shifting blame rather than securing communities.
- Closed schools from as far back as 2021 that have never been reopened.
- Girls pulled out of school or forced into early marriage to avoid abduction.
- Children pushed into child labour as families lose hope that schools will ever reopen.
The organisation also raises concerns about allegations of covert ransom payments and the lack of transparent investigations after each attack. This, Amnesty says, has emboldened armed groups and deepened fear in rural communities that have suffered violent attacks for years.
Amnesty warns that the consequences are catastrophic. Millions of children are now out of school. Many may never return. Communities that were already educationally disadvantaged risk falling even further behind.
The organisation is urging the Nigerian authorities to take urgent steps, including:
- Conducting independent, transparent investigations into all mass abductions since 2014.
- Bringing perpetrators to justice.
- Investing heavily in school security and restoring learning in affected communities.
- Ensuring victims and their families receive justice and support.
- Using “maximum available resources” as required by human-rights treaties Nigeria has signed, to safeguard every child’s right to education.
Amnesty’s message is blunt: Nigeria must act now. Without immediate and decisive intervention, the country risks losing an entire generation of children to fear, violence, illiteracy, and insecurity.
