BY: ABDULKADIR M LAWAN, OCTOBER 15, 2026/ 04:11PM
Amnesty International has urged the Nigerian government to do more to secure the release of schoolchildren still held in captivity, as 42 abducted schoolchildren from Askira Uba Local Government Area of Borno State spend 153 days in the hands of gunmen.
The organisation said the children were abducted on May 15, 2026, and have remained in captivity since then, with more abductions recorded across the North since the incident.
In a statement on Thursday titled 'Nigeria: Borno's Forgotten Children', Amnesty said no child should go through what children are currently experiencing in Nigeria, stressing that education should not be a matter of life and death.
'Nigeria is failing children once again in a horrifying manner,' the rights group said.
Amnesty warned that the future of thousands of schoolchildren in Northern Nigeria remains bleak, as hundreds of schools in some states have been closed indefinitely due to rising insecurity, while many children have abandoned education due to psychological trauma from witnessing violent attacks or living in captivity.
The organisation called on the Federal Government to intensify efforts to safely and securely rescue all schoolchildren in captivity and ensure that suspected perpetrators are held to account.