Insecurity: Terrorists Lay Off Over 3,000 Children Out Of Schools In Katsina

No fewer than fifteen thousand (15,000) citizens reportedly live at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Katsina State, including 3,000 out-of-school children.

The development is due to the persistent attack on various communities of the state by bandit terrorists, Naija News understands.

As it stands, many schools from the Jibia Local Government Area of the state have been shut down due to the security situation of the communities.

At least twenty-three women and children have reportedly died at the camp within the last four months. Reports revealed that some died from hypertension, depression, and related diseases.

Amid the unpleasant situation, at least 35 women reportedly gave birth. The Chairman of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp, Malam Sa’ad Salihu confirmed the figures while interacting with journalists who visited the area on Monday, June 27, 2022, Naija News reports.

Salisu, who doubles as the Chairman of Shimfida Youth Development Association, explained further that some of the children were in school when the people of the communities started running out of the area to escape from terrorists.

He explained that many of the IDPs, who were at Government Girls’ Secondary School, Jibia, came from Kwari, Zango, Shimfida, Tsauni, Far Faru, Tsambe, and Gurbin Magariya communities.

Salisu lamented the situation, noting that it was a great setback to the education sector, seeing that many children are being sent out of school by terrorists.

“From the Shimfida community alone, we have 8,000 people that are in this camp; Far Faru Community, over 7,000 and about 200 were from the Zango community.

“Some of the IDPs are there in some parts of Niger Republic; all in all, about 20,000 people were sacked out of their communities by the bandits.

“But not all of us are sleeping here because of the lack of mattresses, water, mats, and mosquito nets. Some of the women go to their relatives’ houses to sleep,” Salihu said.

He lamented further that the citizens had been forced to abandon their farmlands because the bandits had taken over the communities.

Salisu thereby appealed to the state government to do everything possible to restore security in their communities to enable them to return and continue with their everyday life.

In his remark, the Chairman, Jibia LGA, Alhaji Bishir Sabi’u, told the reporters that many children had been sent out of school in some communities.

He, however, said that the government had provided adequate relief materials to the IDPs, stressing that the government alone could not handle the situation.

According to him, the council spends N200,000 weekly to feed the IDPs apart from the foodstuffs already provided by the state government.