Armed conflicts across West and Central Africa have plunged the futures of an estimated 2.8 million children into uncertainty, as school closures and violence continue to sweep the region.
The latest United Nations report paints a bleak picture, particularly for countries like Nigeria and Cameroon, where the situation is deteriorating rapidly.
By mid-2024, over 14,000 schools had been shut down, marking a significant increase from the previous year. The global number of out-of-school children reached 250 million, according to UNESCO’s 2023 figures, with Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for nearly 30% of this staggering total.
Dr. Ibrahim Baba Shatambaya, a political science lecturer at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Nigeria, explained that these displaced individuals often face even more immediate struggles. “The key challenge they are facing then is not related to getting an education, but rather how to access basic survival needs — food, water, and medical services,” Shatambaya said.
Education Under Siege
Unfortunately, violence is also directly affecting schools. “Education is under siege in West and Central Africa. The deliberate targeting of schools and the systemic denial of education because of conflict is nothing short of a catastrophe,” stated Hassane Hamadou, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s regional director.
In countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, schools have become prime targets for armed groups.
The situation is most critical in Nigeria, where the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency and widespread kidnappings have created an educational crisis in the country’s northern regions. According to UNESCO, over 15.23 million Nigerian children are out of school.
The numbers are especially alarming in Nigeria’s northern states, where figures show that the Northwest and Northeast regions alone account for 8.04 million and 5.06 million out-of-school children, respectively. Comparatively, southern Nigeria’s out-of-school children number 2.58 million.
“In the case of Northwest Nigeria, kidnappings and other forms of criminality have made that part of the country unstable,” said Shatambaya. The combination of insurgency and banditry has crippled education efforts in these areas.
Dr. Michael Ndimancho, a political analyst at the University of Douala in Cameroon, highlighted several contributing factors. “When you look at countries like Nigeria and Cameroon … there are many historical issues at play,” Ndimancho said, citing the Boko Haram insurgency as an example.
He also pointed to the porous borders across West and Central Africa, which further exacerbate security challenges.
Shatambaya emphasized that the problem also lies in governance, particularly in Nigeria. He noted that local, state, and federal governments have not done enough to address the crisis. “Each of these actors has a stake in managing crises associated with conflicts and other social ills like the forced movement of people,” he explained.
Cameroon’s Grim Reality
In Cameroon, the situation is equally grim. The Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest have been particularly hard-hit, with over 700,000 children out of school in 2021 and an even higher number — 855,000 — recorded in 2019. Armed separatist groups have increasingly targeted schools in these regions, creating further instability.
Civil society activist Biezel Mafor expressed concern over the deteriorating situation. “It is quite alarming that we have up to 2.8 million children who have been out of school,” Mafor said. “Unfortunately, Cameroon has not been left out of this statistic, and with the crisis going on, it is quite sad that these children see their dreams being shattered.”
For children in these regions, the future is bleak. Many have been out of school for years, and the infrastructure needed for education has been ravaged by conflict.
Valentine Tameh, a Cameroonian teacher, and trade unionist, said, “There is bleakness and despondency as you see children who are just drifting and they do not know what life holds for them in the future.”
The ongoing conflicts continue to claim lives and futures, leaving a generation of children uncertain of what tomorrow may bring.
