Ahead of the inauguration of the Muhammadu
Buhari’s government on Friday, the United
Nations Children’s Fund has called on the
incoming All Progressives Congress-led
government to find a way of protecting girls and
women from the onslaught of Boko Haram.
The UNICEF said that the number of Nigerian
girls and women being used in suicide-bombing
attacks was increasing at an alarming rate.
In a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja, the
agency stated that the frequency and intensity of
the suicide attacks involving women and girls
had increased sharply this year.
It noted that girls and women had been used to
detonate bombs or explosive belts at crowded
locations such as markets and bus stations.
“As the incoming President, Muhammadu Buhari
is expected to be sworn-in this week, UNICEF
calls on the Nigerian authorities to place the
safety and well-being of all children, especially
those affected by the crisis in the North-East, at
the centre of the political agenda,” the UN
agency said.
According to the agency, more women and
children have been used as suicide bombers in
the North-East in the first five months of this
year than during the whole of last year.
In 2014, 26 suicide attacks were recorded,
compared to 27 attacks as of May 2015,
according to reports collated by UNICEF.
In at least three-quarters of these incidents,
women and children were reportedly used to
carry out the attacks.
“Children are not instigating these suicide
attacks; they are used intentionally by adults in
the most horrific way. They are first and
foremost victims – not perpetrators,” the UNICEF
Representative in Nigeria, Jean Gough, said.
The agency stated that since July 2014, nine
suicide incidents involving children aged between
approximately seven and 17 years, all of them
girls, had been reported though it noted that
their identities and exact ages had not been
verified, as estimates “are based primarily on
eyewitness accounts.”
The UNICEF added that an estimated 743,000
children had been displaced by the conflict in the
three most affected states in Nigeria with the
number of unaccompanied and separated
children likely to be as high as 10,000.
Gough said, “Many children have been separated
from their families when they fled the violence,
with no one to look after them. Without the
protection of their families, these children are at
greater risk of exploitation by adults, and this
can lead to involvement in criminal or armed
group activities.”
Source: PunchNg
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