More Nigerian children are being disengaged from armed groups. In February 2022, the Civilian Joint Task Force in Borno state disengaged 2,203 children within its ranks in compliance with the United Nations convention against the use of child soldiers. In 2018, the United Nations Children\’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) reported that a local militia fighting Boko Haram insurgents released about 833 child soldiers in northeast Nigeria. According to UNICEF, the released children were among the nearly 1,500 boys and girls recruited by vigilante militias. The protracted northeast insurgency has given rise to state and non-state combative actions. Both non-state armed responses to the insurgency and terrorist organisations have recruited children as child soldiers. The disengagement of children by the C-JTF may be the beginning of salvation for many in the terror-troubled northeast Nigeria.
Child soldiers return with bloody memories and a gloomy future. Child soldiers in northeast Nigeria are active participants in the northeast conflict. According to the United Nations (UN), about 3,500 children were recruited as child soldiers by armed groups in Northeast Nigeria between 2013 and 2017. Children in armed conflict are exposed as victims and perpetrators. The returning children were likely denied socialisation, access to necessities for self-development due to their membership of armed groups and being in active conflict scenes. Without proper preparations, disengaged child soldiers are returning to new issues.
Over the years, the northeast insurgency has worsened humanitarian needs and limited access to education, healthcare and social services. As a result, millions of children in Nigeria are victims of fatal attacks. Others have been orphaned or taken refuge in overstretched displacement camps, where basic human decency is a luxury and exposed to physical and sexual violence. According to the United Nations Children\’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), about 2.8 million children require education-in-emergencies support in the worst-hit states of the insurgency in northeast Nigeria. Returning child soldiers, coupled with the specialised support they need, may join the millions of children whose hopes of acquiring an education are determined by many existing structural vulnerabilities.
In response to the 2014 abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno state, the Global Business Coalition for Education and A World at School launched a \’Safe Schools Initiative\’. Despite an initial $10 million fund and take-off with 500 pilot schools in Northern Nigeria, many kids still face grave dangers in learning places. The rise of insecurity and the current war against education in Nigeria calls for increased securitising hotspots and learning environments. Security organisations must collaborate with local security militias and residents to adequately manage threats children face while trying to access education.
Special intervention efforts are required to address education gaps in the conflict-impacted northeast states for disengaged child soldiers and children caught in the web of conflict and humanitarian challenges. First, the Nigerian government and UNICEF must continue to push for the disengagement of children from armed groups and the signing of child rights into law, especially in the conflict-affected states. Second, UNICEF should upscale efforts in taking stock of children disengaged from armed groups. This includes a robust database to follow up on the post-disengagement activities that the children require to become active members of society. Third, significant considerations should be made to ensure that special assistance in demobilisation, rehabilitation and psychosocial support is provided for the returning child soldiers.
There is also a need to increase children-focused interventions in violent zones. More children risk being kidnapped or coerced into joining armed groups due to their vulnerability. Therefore, more livelihood, nutrition and child protection programmes are needed to salvage the challenges facing many children in Nigeria. In addition, the intervention must include educational programmes geared to target children in displacement camps. UNICEF and other intervening agencies should commission research that will provide insights on the realities of accessing education in displacement camps and communities affected by conflict. Children\’s future in crisis-impacted zones may appear uncertain, but adequate intervention efforts will ensure positive outcomes.