1 million Nigerian students are afraid to return to school due to bandits attack. This is a recent data from UNICEF and this is worrying.
I have interviewed over hundred students- male and females, kidnapped from their schools by bandits and then released.
I can tell you for free that most of them don’t want to come back to school again. It is disheartening.
In April when I returned to Jangebe in Zamfara a second time for a follow up story on the girls released most of them shared same sentiments
Halima here (not her real name) had the dream of becoming a doctor but she says she would rather be married off and be a “slave” to any man even other than return to school because she fears for her safety.
It is heartbreaking. From Kankara to Kagara, to Jangebe, Birnin Yauri, Afaka, Tegina and Chibok; I have met so many “Halimas” whose dreams have been dashed and have vowed never to return to school.
The Nigerian government has work to do.
I am working on a report chronicling these firsthand responses from the many boys and girls that have been Victims of bandits. You would see even more how Nigeria is threading on a dangerous path with the non-education of its youth population.
Watch out for it
Video Below: In Zamfara, Halima telling me where the bandits kept them and how they shared them in groups.
