NOA, UNICEF frowns at abduction of students in Niger State

The National Orientation Agency (NOA) and the UNICEF on Tuesday kicked against the abduction of students and violence wreaked on children in Niger State.

Report states that the two organisations said this during a media briefing and planning meeting on community reorientation, confidence building and grassroots dialogue on violence against children.

Alhaji Hamza Audu, the State Director of NOA said UNICEF was supporting the agency to conduct community reorientation to gain back confidence of parents and children who had suffered one form of violence or the other.

“The reorientation will be to highlight some activities of parents and caregiver that constitute violence against children which is inimical to the growth, development and protection of the child,” he said.

Also, Malam Mustapha Yunusa, the Director, Child Protection Department of the Ministry of Women Affairs in the state, noted that child abuse had taken a different dimension and its hindered child development.

He said some violence against children were sexual and molestation, engagement in labour, children used as crime baits, children recruited as soldiers by armed bandits and children denied basic education.

Dr Wilfred Mamah, the Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF Kaduna Field Office, explained that the project was inspired by the alarming rate of violence against children in the state.

He said that the abduction of 42 school students from Government Science College Kagara and 136 children in an Islamic school in Tegina prompted the need for reorientation of parents to build their confidence.

Mamah said the UBEC National Personnel Audit (NPA) 2018 report showed that 20,387,836 children were out of school as at 2018, adding that the report shows 292,700 these children were in the state.

He noted that with the current spate of armed school kidnapping, the state out of school statistics would most likely increase, unless something was done urgently.

Meanwhile, Malam Bala Musa, UNICEF Focal Person, NOA, said the reorientation would commence on July 10, and would be conducted in 60 communities of six local government areas.

He listed the local government areas to include Rafi, Mariga, Mashegu, Edati, Lavun and Mokwa, adding that the team would work with 10 communities from each local government.