A total of 894 children were released from a local vigilante movement involved in the fight against terror group Boko Haram in Nigeria’s northeast region, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Friday.
The move was taken as part of a commitment to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts.
Some 106 girls were among the minors released from the ranks of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), formed six years ago to assist government forces in the fight against the terror group, said two officials of the UN agency in Nigeria.
The release followed an action plan committing the militia to put measures in place to end the act since September 2017.
Mohammed Fall, the UNICEF representative in Nigeria, said collaborative work is in progress between the UN agency, the Nigerian government and other local authorities to help reintegrate those released into the society.
“We cannot give up the fight for the children, as long as children are still affected by the fighting. We will continue until there is no child left in the ranks of all armed groups in Nigeria,” the UNICEF official said.
More than 3,500 children were recruited between 2013 and 2017 for the conflict in the northern part of Nigeria. Out of the figure, 1,727 children have been released since CJTF signed the action plan in 2017 to end child recruitment.
The minors were mainly recruited and used as spies or sent on errands by the CJTF, according to Tokunbo Alabi, a local security analyst.
“The kids don’t carry arms, theirs is to give information about suspected Boko Haram fighters and their whereabouts. It is a good development that they were released to live as innocent children that they are, to own their own lives,” Alabi told Xinhua in an earlier interview.
On Oct. 18, 2018, at least 833 children were released from the same local vigilante movement in Nigeria, the first formal release of the minors since the signing by the CJTF.
