THE NORTH EAST AND CHILDREN OF WAR
One of the ugliest effects of war and conflict, and perhaps what makes it so egregious is the fact that more often than not, its biggest casualties are the innocent. If humanity abhors war and must continue to do so, it is because usually, when war breaks out, those usually caught in its cross fire are those on the margins. They are almost always women and children, the old, and the weak.
For more than a decade now, the Nigerian experience has been shaped by war, a war that has nonetheless proven its relentless ability to alter lives and claim victims.
The disturbing argument that Nigeria was not prepared for the full-scale onslaught of terrorism when it descended on the country is only strengthened by the terrifying number of scalps the terrorists have claimed. However, it appears that it is out of children that the terrorists are carving out their biggest trophies yet.
Even before Boko Haram commandeered Borno State as the launch pad of its insurgency against Nigeria, northern Nigeria, long thought to be the problem region of the country, was always a tottering giant. Vast in land mass and the variety of ethnic groups, the region was always posting statistics that curdled the blood of human development experts. In health and even in education, the region`s struggles were clear for all to see.
Thus, even before 2009, the region was headed for the brink. In fact, the dire conditions of the region no doubt gave Boko Haram some of the physical and mental tools they needed for their operations of death. When they finally came in 2009, it was to fan into a raging fire a flame that was already lit and crying out for some fuel. Terrorism has since spread like a wildfire in the region claiming victims in tons and conspiring to alter life irreparably.
By a recently released report of the United Nations on the fate of children in the north-east, about 694 grave violations were recorded on 532 children within the last two years in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States from January 2020 to December 2021.
Some of the children suffered multiple violations including abduction and recruitment into armed conflict or sexual slavery. About 212 children were said to have been killed or maimed by gunshots while about 63 girls were said to have suffered sexual violence.
The main perpetrators were identified as members of the Boko Haram sect and other splinter groups, including the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
For children in the affected states of the north-east, their experience of these atrocities is beyond nightmarish. Is childhood not supposed to be a time of innocence, sweetness and bliss? Why should the experience of children in the north-east be so violently different as a result of a senseless war against Nigerians by those who are criminals through and through?
Since Boko Haram started its campaign of death and destruction in the North-east, many children and their families have been slaughtered. Many schools have been reduced to rubble and teachers killed. Indeed, while the group has never hidden its disdain for education which it has specifically sought to disrupt through heavy-handed methods, the bandits emboldened by the successes of Boko Haram to launch their own operations have enjoyed field days abducting students and holding them for ransom.
Children have suffered unimaginably at the hands of terrorists in Nigeria. Bringing to an end the needless suffering of children and their families should be deemed an urgent act of justice. For it is the gravest injustice that children continue to endure the most suffering as a result of a senseless conflict they know nothing about.
Kene Obiezu,
Twitter: @kenobiezu
