ActionAid Nigeria has denounced recent incidents of violence and bullying among students at the Igbinedion Education Centre, deeming them a significant violation of children’s rights and indicative of the systemic failures in safeguarding children within Nigeria’s education system.
The Social Justice Organization asserted that these incidents reflect not only individual acts of abuse but also a larger institutional breakdown regarding child protection, monitoring, and accountability.
According to the Country Director, Andrew Mamedu in a Statement in Abuja, “every child has the fundamental right to safety, dignity, and protection from all forms of violence,” rights enshrined in the Child Rights Act and supported by global child protection standards.
Mamedu pointed out that these events represent a failure of duty of care among multiple stakeholders within the education and governance systems.
“When abuse goes undetected or unaddressed, it reveals deep cracks in the structures responsible for safeguarding children,” he stated.
He urged that effective school supervision mechanisms should be in place to identify early warning signs of abuse, track patterns of misconduct, and intervene before harm escalates.
Highlighting that this issue extends beyond a single institution, the Country Director noted that it reflects a broader pattern of underreported abuse, bullying, and school-related gender-based violence throughout Nigeria.
“This is not an isolated incident. It is one of many, with countless other cases remaining hidden due to weak reporting systems, fear of retaliation, stigma, and the lack of effective protection mechanisms for children.
“The normalization of silence around these issues allows abuse to flourish unchecked,” Mamedu added.
ActionAid Nigeria further stressed that child protection cannot rest solely on the shoulders of educational institutions; it is a collective responsibility involving regulatory agencies, law enforcement, and the justice system. The delayed responses often seen following public exposure highlight a reactive rather than proactive safeguarding culture.
“Action is typically instigated only when incidents go viral, rather than through consistent monitoring, reporting, and accountability processes,” he noted.
Mamedu also condemned the widespread sharing of videos and images involving the children, pointing to critical gaps in safeguarding systems. The fact that these recordings were disseminated by students themselves indicates a failure of existing protection and reporting mechanisms, suggesting that social media has become a last resort for seeking help.
ActionAid Nigeria therefore called for urgent and coordinated action from all relevant stakeholders to strengthen child protection systems and prevent further abuse:
They also called on Federal and state Ministries of Education, and relevant regulatory and oversight bodies, including the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), State-level education boards, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to move beyond existing laws and safeguarding frameworks to ensure stronger implementation, regular monitoring, and effective tracking systems, including real-time reporting mechanisms, so that all cases of abuse are identified early, properly documented, investigated, and resolved transparently across all schools.
They stated that Schools must establish safe and confidential reporting channels for students to report bullying or abuse, take swift and appropriate action when cases arise, and ensure that teachers, guidance counsellors, and administrators receive continuous, mandatory training on safeguarding, child protection, psychosocial support, trauma-informed care, conflict de-escalation, early identification of warning signs, and the prevention of school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) and sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse (SHEA).
They recommended that schools with persistent and unresolved cases of abuse must be made to face sanctions, including possible closure where necessary to protect students.
ActionAid also called on Civil Society Organisations to actively support federal and state education systems by providing technical assistance, community-based monitoring, and capacity strengthening across schools, including training on safeguarding policies, reporting mechanisms, survivor-centred response, child rights awareness, digital safety, and accountability frameworks.
ActionAid Nigeria urged law enforcement agencies, including the Nigeria Police Force and the judiciary, to ensure thorough investigations and prompt prosecutions of all cases involving violence against children. They stressed the importance of prioritizing these cases to deliver timely justice and act as a deterrent to future incidents.
They emphasized the role of parents and guardians in cultivating values of empathy, respect, and non-violence in their children. They called on caregivers to support children in reporting abuse, actively monitor school environments, and demand accountability through appropriate channels, extending beyond school grounds.
“Children must be encouraged and empowered to report abuse and bullying safely, with assurances of protection,” ActionAid Nigeria stated.
They highlighted the necessity for children to be informed about available reporting avenues, which include schools, various Ministries, regulatory bodies, and civil society organizations, while teaching them how to utilize these channels without fear of retaliation.
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