UN says Nigeria ranks 4th as attacks on school children globally surge by 44%

A UN report says Nigeria ranks fourth globally among countries with the highest levels of “grave violations” against school children in armed conflict.

The UN secretary-general’s 2024 report on children and armed conflict, published in 2025, stated that it verified 41,370 attacks.

The report described this figure as the highest number of grave violations against children in nearly 30 years.

The “grave violations” include abduction, recruitment, and sexual violence.

Nigeria’s place on its global ranking, the report said, follows Israel (and the occupied Palestinian territory), the DRC, and Somalia.

It said 8,554 cases of grave violations, for 2024, were recorded in Israel, 4,043 in DRC, 2,568 in Somalia, 2,436 in Nigeria, and 2,269 in Haiti.

While non-state armed groups were responsible for half of the attacks, the report said government forces were the main perpetrators of the killing and maiming of children, attacks on schools and hospitals, and the denial of humanitarian access.

It said attacks on schools globally surged by a staggering 44 per cent between 2022 and 2023, while the use of schools for military purposes rose by 20 per cent.

The report noted that over 10,000 students and teachers were either killed, abducted, arrested, or harmed during this period.

“These violations threaten not only individual lives but the future of entire communities,” the report said.

Virginia Gamba, the UN secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict, said children caught in hostilities are being “robbed of their childhood” as governments and armed groups continue to violate international laws.

The report also highlighted that over 3,000 children were detained for their alleged involvement with armed groups, an increase from the previous year.

Gamba urged government authorities to treat these children primarily as victims and seek alternatives to detention.

The report advocated the full implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration and urged countries to invest in resilient education systems.

The report’s findings come ahead of a high-level event in Geneva to mark the International Day to Protect Education from Attack.

Nigeria officially endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration in 2018.

It developed a policy on violence-free schools in 2021 and crafted a compliance framework with minimum standards for safe schools.

The country established the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre, with a plan to coordinate and fund security measures.

But implementation and compliance have remained a challenge, as the initiative’s enrollment rate was reported at 11,000 in mid-2025.