By Ali Elias
The United Nations has expressed deep concern over renewed attacks on schools in Nigeria following recent coordinated assaults on educational institutions in Oyo State that left dozens of pupils and teachers abducted and at least one teacher dead.
Speaking at the UN headquarters, spokesperson to the Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, said the world body was worried by the recurring targeting of children and schools by extremist groups, warning that such attacks carry severe consequences for affected communities.
“We’re, of course, very concerned. We have seen the continued attacks on children, on places of education in Nigeria by extremist groups,” Dujarric said.
“As you can imagine, these have devastating impact on the communities.”
The UN reaction follows the recent attacks on multiple schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, where armed men reportedly abducted at least 39 schoolchildren and seven teachers after raiding a secondary school and two primary schools in Ahoro Esinele community. One teacher was later killed in captivity, according to authorities.
The incident has heightened fears over the spread of school attacks beyond Nigeria’s traditional conflict zones in the North-East and North-West into the South-West, where such incidents had been relatively rare.
Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters has since linked the Oyo attacks to displaced members of Boko Haram, saying the assailants were elements pushed out of other regions by ongoing military operations.
The wave of violence was not limited to Oyo. Reports indicate that another attack in Borno State around the same period led to the abduction of 42 children from a primary school near Sambisa Forest, bringing the total number of children reportedly missing in recent school attacks to over 80.
Dujarric disclosed that the UN system in Nigeria had continued working with the Federal Government and stakeholders to strengthen school safety mechanisms in vulnerable communities.
“The UN country team in Nigeria, in all its components, has been working with the Government in the impacted region,” he said.
“This is to find ways that we can support and strengthen and help make schools more safe for students, and we will continue to work in that vein.”
The UN spokesperson also revealed that Secretary-General António Guterres remained concerned over escalating terrorist activities in parts of Nigeria, especially following recent joint military operations involving Nigerian and United States forces against ISIS-linked targets.
The latest attacks have reignited concerns about the safety of schools across Nigeria, years after global outrage over mass abductions such as the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping.
Human rights groups have warned that persistent insecurity around schools is forcing many parents to withdraw children from classrooms, worsening Nigeria’s already severe out-of-school crisis. Amnesty International recently criticised what it described as inadequate responses to rising abductions, noting that at least 1,100 people were kidnapped between January and April 2026.
Analysts say repeated attacks on schools risk undermining educational progress, particularly in rural communities where access to education is already fragile. The United Nations has consistently maintained that attacks on schools constitute grave violations of children’s rights and has repeatedly called for stronger protection of learning environments in conflict-affected regions.