Elia Andrew, male, 20, woke up on the bright side of life mid-January last year hoping to go about his daily activities in Gwoza local government area (LGA), Borno state.
He called on two of his friends to accompany him to a local garage in the area and as a boy full of life, Andrew trekked happily with his friends to the garage.
Few minutes after arriving the garage a truck of men cladded in Nigerian army uniform arrived with guns and ammunitions. They thought they were safe until a woman alerted the boys they were Boko Haram. They opened fire on people and started shouting “Allahu akbar”.
Andrew said he looked to his right and left and everyone ran to safety. He together with his friend ran into a woman’s house. The woman, who was in her late 50s could only keep them safe for two days without food before Boko Haram knocked on her door asking her to “produce the boys”. Luck was on their side, they sneaked into another building and escaped death the second time.
“We ran to one woman’s house and stayed there for two days without food. Boko Haram got to the area searching house to house and saw our slippers. They asked the woman about our whereabouts but she told them she owned the slippers.
“On their way out they told her if they had seen any male in the house they would have killed them,” Andrew recounts his ordeal.
Months later, Andrew arrived Benin Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Uhogua community, Edo south senatorial district without the company of his parents and friends. Just like most displaced persons from the north east, Andrew said many things have changed for him.
He said he has witnessed terrible situations that he would not want to recall or talk about. Andrew, who was reunited with his father a week before the reporter met him in Benin displaced persons camp disclosed that he does not know the whereabouts of his mother.
“I don’t know where my mother is. My father got an information that I am now in Benin and came from Taraba to find me just last week. He promised to come often as he is also managing somewhere in Taraba state. I miss my mother,” Andrew said fighting back tears from his eyes.
Efforts by the International Christian Centre (ICC), the manager of the IDPs camp has started paying off as Andrew and many other children who have found home in Benin, Edo state are beginning to see reasons to hope again.
However, one of the many problems militating against this new found hope “is the lack of quality education”, Mr Solomon disclosed to our reporter.
Andrew, now in Senior Secondary School 1 (SS1) said he wants to be a medical doctor. Making reference to the outbreak of chicken pox in the camp last year, Andrew said he wants to take care, heal and find cure to people’s health problems. But another displaced person, Paul said he would love to be a soldier so that he can protect his family, fight and destroy Boko Haram.
“I want to be a soldier so that I can provide and protect my family. But the main reason I really want to be a soldier is for me to be able to destroy and kill Boko Haram. They killed my people,” Paul disclosed.
As for Manaseh Semila who hails from Gwoza LGA, his wish is be a great Nigerian Airforce officer. He wants to launch airstrikes against Boko Haram when he grows up. Semila, whose best subject is mathematics, said he would not stop until he achieves his dreams.
“I want to be fly planes to fight the Boko Haram people. I want to be an Airforce officer so that I can launch plenty attacks against Boko Haram. I will make sure that my dreams come to pass,” Semila told the reporter with smiles written all over his face.
Realising the need for quality education as a tool to helping children get back to seeing life as full of opportunities, the ICC built classrooms where people volunteer to teach the children. This is still grossly inadequate to cater for the 1500 inhabitants of the camp largely women and children.
At the Benin camp, the reporter observed that the roofing of the classrooms were covered with cement bags and the floor was not concreted.
“When it rains learning is often very difficult,” a camp guide told the reporter.
The same story of poor access to education resonates across many displaced persons camps in Nigeria. The case of Durumi camp in Abuja, the federal capital territory (FCT) paints a scary picture of neglect by the government. Children with their dust-caked legs were seen sitting on the ground in a makeshift classroom constructed by the leadership of the IDPs in the camp.
Saved for the intervention of Life Builders Initiative, an NGO managed by Pastor David Olatunji, the percentage of children that could have been denied access to education in Kuchingoro camp, Abuja would have been very appalling. The NGO’s “school-without-walls” program has attended to the educational needs of over 600 IDP children in Kuchingoro camp.
It is the same swansong in some camps in Borno and Adamawa state. At the Arabic Teacher College IDP camp, along Jos road in Maiduguri lack of adequate instructional materials to teach the children is a major problem. Speaking on the challenges in operating the camp, a NEMA official who craved anonymity said that the fund meant to maintain the camps is not enough.
“We spend about N600, 000, 000 per month to run the camps. It is not enough to take adequate care of the camp’s needs in terms of education, health and other things. It is very expensive to maintain these camps,” he said.
According to a report by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on defeating hunger and ignorance, under-education has an incalculable cost for communities and countries. Considering the large percentage of its populace without access to quality education, the cost of under-education for Nigeria may just be unimaginable in some years to come.
Stressing the need for an urgent intervention, Hajiya Hannatu Akilu in a chat with the reporter warned that there will be massive generational problems in Nigeria in the next decade if the educational needs of children and youths in IDP camps are not properly attended to.
“We are going to have an issue in the next 10 to 15 years because we are going to have a whole generation uneducated. What will happen to those children? Those children will go back to the horrible cycle of going into Boko Haram because they don’t have anything to do,” Akilu said.
Calling on government and other stakeholders to prioritize education as much as the provision of clothing and other materials, Akilu said:
“Am not saying that they don’t need clothing but that is not their priority. Because it the easiest thing for people to do. They just open their wardrobes and bring out clothes and take it to them. Their priority is school, medical and decent shelter.”