Twenty five children, comprising 23 boys and two girls, who had links with Boko Haram terrorist group have been released by the military to the United Nations Children’s Fund and officials of Borno State Government.
The children aged between eight and 15 years were mostly abducted by the terrorists during attacks on their communities, and forced to work for them in various supportive roles, according to the military.
They had been placed under the military’s administrative custody, but were released after they had been cleared of ties with Boko Haram.
The release brings the number of children released this year to 44.
The head of the military counter-insurgency in the North-East (Operation Lafiya Dole), Maj.
Gen. Olusegun Adeniyi, who handed over the children, disclosed that some of them escaped from their abductors and found their way to troops’ locations.
“Children associated with insurgency are commonly subjected to abuse and most of them witnessed killings and sexual violence.
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“Regardless of how they are recruited and the roles they played, their part ovation bears serious implications for their physical and emotional well-being.
“Therefore, their rehabilitation and reintegration into civilian life is an essential part of our effort in partnership with other stakeholders to help them rebuild their lives.
“The children seated here today have been adequately profiled and their roles with Boko Haram ascertained as supportive and non-violent. Some of them are children whose parents were arrested for terrorist offences and there is no justification to keep them in detention alongside their parents,” he said during the hand over.
Speaking at the ceremony, the UNICEF Nigeria Acting Representative, Pernille Ironside, “These are children taken away from their families and communities, deprived of their childhood, education, health-care, and of the chance to grow up in a safe and enabling environment. UNICEF will continue working to ensure that all conflict affected children are reunited with their families, have hope of fulfilling their dreams and their human rights.”
She said the children who were being handed over to the Borno State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, would be kept at a UNICEF supported transit centre while efforts to reunite them with their families and reintegrate them back to their communities were underway.
She said, “They will access medical and psychosocial support, education, vocational training and informal apprenticeships, and opportunities to improve their livelihoods.”
Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Borno State, who received the children from the military, assured they would receive proper care and be allowed to return to school.
