Child conscription
A viral video of 18 children in military combat gear in a forest suggested the conscription of child soldiers by terrorists. The Secretary of the Coalition of Borno South APC
A viral video of 18 children in military combat gear in a forest suggested the conscription of child soldiers by terrorists.
The Secretary of the Coalition of Borno South APC Youth Group, Junaid Jibril Maiva, noted that they were “possibly from the Ngoshe axis, judging by the language they are speaking.” Ngoshe is in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno South Senatorial District.
Although Borno State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development Zuwaira Gambo said she had not seen the video, she said she could tell “from experience that such children are victims who are sometimes forcefully adopted from streets and even schools.”
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She detailed efforts by the state to prevent the conscription of children by terrorists, including free education and “programmes like awareness creation, school clubs, visits to traditional and religious institutions, and setting up of children’s parliamentarians.” She argued that these efforts “made the UN delist the state from places where there is child recruitment into terrorism.”
However, recent attacks in the state may well have revived the abhorrent practice of using child soldiers. “We don’t have cases of child soldier recruitment anymore if not for the recent attacks,” she stated.
For instance, the Ngoshe and Pulka raids by insurgents between March 3 and 6 reportedly resulted in the kidnapping of over 300 civilians, including a significant number of women and children.
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Also, the Nigerian military reported repelling multiple simultaneous attacks on locations in Delwa, Kukawa, and Mainok between March 8 and 9.
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In February, the United Nations Children’s Fund highlighted the increasing conscription of child soldiers by terrorists in the North-East.
Notably, the UNICEF Child Protection Manager, Tarek Akkad, said in 2024 alone, 1,120 children were recruited across the North-East, comprising 525 boys and 595 girls. According to him, “In Northeast Nigeria, armed groups continue to recruit and use children, impacting boys and girls in different but equally harmful ways.”
The situation, which Maiva called a “ticking time bomb,” threatens to explode if the authorities fail to intervene with immediacy. He said: “The government must act deliberately and decisively, or this war risks consuming us all.”
It’s tragic that children are being pressed into fighting for terrorists. This is a further compelling reason for not only intensifying the war on terror but also ensuring the comprehensive defeat of the terrorists.
