Nigeria has been ranked the fourth most dangerous country for school children caught in armed conflicts, according to a new United Nations report.
The 2024 report of the UN Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, published in 2025, revealed that Nigeria recorded 2,436 grave violations against children last year, trailing only Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories (8,554 cases), the Democratic Republic of Congo (4,043), and Somalia (2,568).
The violations, described as the highest in nearly three decades, include abductions, killings, recruitment into armed groups, sexual violence, and attacks on schools and hospitals.
Globally, the UN said it verified 41,370 attacks against children, marking a 44 per cent increase in assaults on schools between 2022 and 2023.
It also noted that over 10,000 students and teachers were killed, abducted, or harmed in the period under review.
Virginia Gamba, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative for children and armed conflict, warned that governments and non-state armed groups were “robbing children of their childhood” by repeatedly violating international humanitarian laws.
While non-state armed groups were blamed for half of the violations, government forces were identified as major perpetrators of killings, maiming, and denial of humanitarian aid.
The report further revealed that more than 3,000 children were detained globally for alleged links with armed groups in 2024, a rise from the previous year.
Gamba urged governments to treat such children primarily as victims rather than criminals.
The UN called for the full implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration, which Nigeria endorsed in 2018.
The country has since developed a National Policy on Violence-Free Schools (2021), a compliance framework on safe schools, and established the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre.
However, compliance has been poor. As of mid-2025, only 11,000 schools were enrolled in the government’s Safe Schools initiative, raising concerns about the fate of millions of vulnerable children across the country.
“These violations threaten not only individual lives but the future of entire communities,” the report warned.
The findings are being released ahead of a high-level meeting in Geneva to commemorate the International Day to Protect Education from Attack, where global leaders are expected to renew commitments to safeguard learning spaces.
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