THE MENACE OF CHILD SOLDIERS

Breaking the mould is possible when the authorities prioritise child protection in addition to incentivised education

While marking the International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers recently, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) disclosed that over 8,000 Nigerian boys and girls have been recruited as child soldiers since 2009 by various armed groups. Since we agree with the UN agency that this situation is “unacceptable and unconscionable”, authorities in Nigeria must prioritise child protection and welfare policies through incentivised and compulsory basic education. As a matter of urgency, children must be removed from conflict zones while there should be sustained campaigns to sensitise the public on this growing malaise.   

In the past decade, UNICEF has been strident that non-state armed groups are using Nigerian children as combatants and non-combatants, while committing other grave violations against them. In 2016 alone, according to the agency, some 2,122 children were deployed for military purposes in the country. Some children as young as seven have been deployed particularly for suicide attacks. In the 2019 attacks on Konduga town in Borno State where at least 30 persons died in the triple suicide attacks, children were the human weapons.  

Ever since the beginning of insurgency in Nigeria, children have always been targeted by Boko Haram whose operatives have at different times abducted schoolgirls. Male children have also fallen into their traps. Boko Haram, the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) and other terror networks, including the bandits who operate from the Northwest zone of the country, target children because of their vulnerability. Driven mostly by poverty and lack of access to basic education and opportunities for self-development, many male children also volunteer for conscription. These children are susceptible to indoctrination and manipulation and less conscious of the danger of their choice. They are used not only to kill but also in many instances as spies, messengers, and sex slaves. 

The UNICEF chief field officer in Borno, Phuong Nguyen, said the insurgency has claimed thousands of lives and disrupted livelihoods and access to essential services for children and their families in the Northeast. While Governor Babagana Zulum claims that some foreign interests are sponsoring the Boko Haram terrorist group to recruit children as fighters, he also admitted that high unemployment rate, poverty, poor social infrastructure, fuel these recruitments. In January, Zulum signed the Borno State Child Protection Bill into law, making it the 29th state to domesticate the Child Rights Act. But addressing the problem would take more than domesticating a law. A chaotic society accentuates human vulnerabilities, particularly among under-age people. 

The surge of child soldiers in a country with almost half its population living below the poverty line is predictable. Therefore, the situation in the northeast does not come as a surprise because of the dislocation of the various aspects of life in the region. Education, for instance, which ought to have productively engaged the kids, has suffered greatly because of the predatory activities of terrorists. What should alarm us, even more, is how successive governments, especially in the north, have fared poorly in protecting at-risk children, many of whom are now roaming the streets with no prospects for education.  

Meanwhile, conscripting children into these armed groups is not only a gross abuse of their innocence, but also a systematic destruction of the present and future of the country. Already, armed conflict situations have created children who are separated from their families, unprotected, starved, and exposed to violence as their only means of survival. Besides the mental and physical torture, exposing children to armed conflict increases their risk of morbidity and mortality. To worsen matters, hundreds of thousands of children are dying every day because of indirect effects of conflict – including malnutrition, disease, inadequate healthcare, and poor sanitation.  

  The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in its blueprint for 2030 provides a universal plan to secure a better future for children. The 16th goal is dedicated to peace, justice, and strong institutions. To fulfil that mandate, authorities in Nigeria and all relevant stakeholders must work to save our children from being handed guns as their only means of survival.