The United Nations Children’s Fund in partnership with the Borno State Government has rehabilitated 833 children involved in armed conflicts in Nigeria’s North East.
Geoffrey Ijumba, Head of UNICEF in Borno State, stated this on Tuesday in Maiduguri at the opening ceremony of a training workshop organized for the children.
Ijumba explained that the workshop was designed to review the current prevention of child recruitment, release and reintegration strategy under the sustainable peace approach in the North East.
He said: “Today, we are happy that we are refining our strategy on prevention of child recruitment.
“We owe these children a child friendly, inclusive and effective process.
“They have already gone through a lot, we cannot let them down by windy, bureaucratic processes.
“As it is the case with every conflict, children and women bear the brunt of the crises.
“Of the 1.8 million persons displaced by the conflict in the three states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, 79 per cent of them are women and children.”
Ijumba lamented that many children were being abducted and forcibly conscripted by the insurgents, while others were used as human bombs, killed and maimed.
He added: “Some had been used as human bombs and others have been and continue to be victims of sexual and gender-based violence.
“These children have been exposed to tremendous phychosocial distress.”
Also commenting, Alhaji Yahaya Dankoli, Permanent Secretary, Borno State Ministry of Women Affairs, said the children would be trained on various trades under a comprehensive skills acquisition scheme.
Dankoli explained that resettlement packages would be provided to graduates at the end of the eight months training programme to enable them set up their businesses.
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