In April 2014, the world woke up to the shocking news that 276 schoolgirls had been abducted from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State. The incident sparked a global reaction, which gave birth to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. And it drew attention to the growing threat that terrorism posed to education in Nigeria.
Twelve years later, from Chibok to Kankara, Jangebe, Kuriga, and most recently Oriire, a disturbing pattern has emerged: schools have become attractive targets for terrorists, bandits, and criminal gangs.
What was once considered a safe place for learning has increasingly become a place of fear.
The tragedy is not only the abduction of children and teachers. The bigger tragedy is what these attacks are doing to education itself, especially in rural communities across Northern Nigeria and, increasingly, other parts of the country.
When the attack on Chibok happened, it was supposed to be a wake-up call. It exposed the vulnerability of schools and led to initiatives such as the Safe Schools Initiative. It is unfortunate that school abductions have continued with alarming regularity. According to Amnesty International, no less than 1,700 children have been abducted from schools in mass kidnappings since the Chibok incident, demonstrating that attacks on educational institutions have become a recurring security challenge.
The consequences of this are demoralising.
For many parents in rural communities, the greatest fear is no longer whether their children will pass examinations or pay the school fees; it is whether they will return home alive.
As a result, many families have withdrawn their children from school altogether. In parts of the North-West and North-East, some parents now consider education a security risk rather than a pathway to a better future. According to a report by Reuters, many children who survive kidnappings never return to school because of trauma and fear of future attacks. Do you blame the parents for such a decision?
This contributes to Nigeria’s already alarming education crisis. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that Nigeria now has about 18.3 million out-of-school children, the highest number in the world. Available data suggest that of these, approximately 10.2 million are of primary school age, while another 8.1 million are at the junior secondary level.
While poverty, cultural practices, and poor infrastructure cannot be divorced from this crisis, insecurity has become unarguably one of the most significant factors driving children away from classrooms.
The impact is particularly severe in Northern Nigeria. Entire communities have seen schools shut down because teachers are afraid of being kidnapped. Some educators have simply abandoned postings in remote villages, leaving schools without qualified staff. Others commute long distances under constant fear of attacks.
Education cannot thrive where fear dominates. Education remains a tool to combat fear and anxiety.
The effects extend beyond the North. They are gradually settling in the South. Although large-scale school abductions are more common in northern states, insecurity in the South has also affected education. Ekiti and Oyo states in the South West have experienced abduction of children in recent times. Kidnappings for ransom, cult violence, communal clashes, and attacks on roads have created an atmosphere of uncertainty around schools in several southern communities. The message being sent to parents across Nigeria is dangerous: school is no longer guaranteed to be safe.
The long-term consequences for the country are frightening. It’s a ticking timebonb. Sadly, the authorities seem to be unaware or just carefree about this.
A child denied education today may become an unemployed adult tomorrow. Communities with low educational attainment often experience higher levels of poverty, crime, and social instability. Insecurity is therefore creating a vicious cycle: violence disrupts education, lack of education fuels poverty, and poverty creates conditions that can breed further insecurity.
There is also a psychological cost. Children who experience violence, displacement, or abduction often carry emotional scars for years. Teachers and parents suffer trauma as well. Learning becomes difficult when students are constantly looking over their shoulders.
Even more troubling is the fact that many schools remain poorly prepared for attacks. A report by UNICEF found that only 37% of schools surveyed across 10 Nigerian states had early-warning systems to identify security threats. That statistic should alert every concerned Nigerian.
The future of any nation depends on its classrooms. When schools become battlefields, society loses more than students; it loses doctors, engineers, teachers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and future leaders.
The lesson from Chibok should have been clear: protect schools at all costs. Yet more than a decade later, schoolchildren continue to be abducted, classrooms continue to empty, and parents continue to choose safety over education.
Nigeria cannot build a prosperous future if children are too afraid to go to school. Until schools are secured, particularly in rural communities, the country’s education crisis will deepen, and the dream of national development will remain painfully out of reach.
