CELEBRATIONS WITHOUT THE CHILDREN: UTA CALLS FOR URGENT RESCUE OF ALL CHILDREN IN KIDNAPPERS’ DEN BY: Austin Mac-Albert

As the Federal government of Nigeria under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu marked her Third Year in office on May 29 and the global community celebrated the 2026 International Children’s Day on May 27, the United Towns Agency for North South Cooperation (UTA) have called on the federal government to fast-track the immediate release of school children kidnapped in Oyo state and other parts of the country.

Princess Abigail Amalaha,

Country-President, UTA Nigeria

In a press briefing by Princess Abigail Amalaha, Country-President of the International Non-Governmental Organisation; UTA bemoan the fate of about 39 children from Ahoro-Esinele community in Orire Local Council of Oyo state and countless number of children held in kidnappers den. What an irony of life that the government will mark such important events while her future leaders and some of their teachers are held hostage by ruthless kidnappers.

According to her, schools are meant to be sanctuaries of learning, not hunting grounds for criminals. The image of frightened children being dragged away by armed bandits should shake the conscience of any normal human being. The attack is not just on these local communities, but on the entire Nigerian children and their future.  

For these children, the normal march-pasts associated with Children’s day have eluded them, no new school uniforms, no recitations of poems, while the future looks bleak for them. They are faced with the waiting game, waiting for rescue from their beloved country that promised to protect and safeguard them. What an irony of life.  

The faith of these innocent, vulnerable children who still believes their teacher will find a way to get them home is being put to test as the days goes by. The faith of the helpless teacher, who shields his pupils with his body and whispers to them intermittently that help is coming, even when he isn’t sure himself, is being challenged. This is not just a security crisis, it is a moral indictment. A nation erodes quietly, and nothing exposes that erosion faster than the inability to keep children safe in their classrooms.  

 

The UTA boss further said that abductions of school children in Nigeria have moved from shocking exception to recurring pattern. From Chibok to Kagara, from Kaduna to Ekiti, from Borno to Oyo, the script is familiar. Armed men invade, pupils and teachers are marched into forests, ransom demands follow, and the state scrambles to respond. Each release is celebrated, but the cycle repeats. Schools in vulnerable communities now close early. Parents withdraw children, especially girls. The result is that most children now see education as being dangerous.   

Princess Amalaha advised the federal government as a matter of urgency to put all necessary machinery in motion to ensure immediate release of these innocent children and their teachers. The rescue operations must be intelligence-driven and swift, with zero tolerance for ransom payments that fuel the kidnapping economy. Every hour a child spends in captivity deepens trauma.  

The government should ensure that all schools are secured, especially those in rural communities. They should deploy the Safe Schools Initiative with dedicated, trained school guards, not just ad hoc police visits, as well as install early-warning systems linking schools directly to local security posts and community vigilante networks.  

Of great importance is the need for the government to trace the root and block ransom flows through the banking and telecoms systems, prosecute informants and collaborators within communities and invest in border security and forest surveillance to deny criminals safe havens.  

The government should also as a matter of priority treat education as critical infrastructure. Just as we protect airports and power plants, schools must be designated and defended as national assets. 

The world being a global village, Amalaha also called on the international communities especially the United Nations to assist the country in fighting these menace that have become a cankerworm to the nation. The United Nations should provide technical support for tracking attacks on education in the country and also holding perpetrators accountable. The international body should also scale up psychosocial support for released children and teachers, and should treat mass abduction of children as a grave violation of international law. The Security Council should name and sanction networks that target schools. The United Nation using their various agencies shoul provide intelligence, surveillance, and forensic support to dismantle kidnapping cells, as well as tie security and development aid to measurable improvements in school safety.  

 

While summing up, Princess Amalaha emphasised that as these measures are being put in place by the government, with the necessary support from the United Nations and other international bodies, the federal government of Nigeria should develop the political will to handle the situation as a responsive government. Accordingly, in any serious society, the classroom is meant to be a sacred ground, but when it becomes a hunting ground; the social contract between the government and her citizens is broken.