Pulse.ng : UNICEF Donates Relief Materials To Families Of Abducted Kuriga School Children

By Sani Idris

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has on Friday donated no fewer than 200 bags of rice and other relief materials to families of abducted Kuriga school children in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State.

NAN reports that scores of school children were on March 7, abducted from the Kuriga community, located in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State.

The relief materials included mosquito nets, sanitary pads, water treatments chemicals, water testing kits, soap, slippers, pomade, tissue papers, among others.

Others were footballs, skipping ropes, books, erasers, pencils, puzzles, among others, being part of play therapy items for the children who escaped captivity, learning aid devices, among others.

Speaking at the Village Head Palace of Kuriga, the UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Kaduna state, Gerida Birukila, lamenented that the kidnapped children were yet to be rescued as the days goes by.

She said UNICEF came back to the community to bring succour to families of the kidnapped children, to enable them continue their daily routines while the government continue working towards rescue of their children.

"We brought many relief items including learning aids such as radios so as the children will continue learning,"she said.

Birukila urged the families to remain strong and prayerful while being optimistic that the children would regain freedom and be united back with their families.

Speaking to NAN at the sideline the of event, Theresa Panma, the Water Sanitation and Hygiene Specialist of UNICEF, Kaduna office, said hygiene promotion and sanitation activities have become low in the community.

She said the community were no longer in the right state of minds to continue good hygiene practices due to the unfortunate incident that has distabilised them.

Panma added that neglecting sanitary and hygiene activities could lead to outbreak of diseases.

She said the children, if rescued, are likely to come back with skin related diseases resulting from lack of hygiene practices in the bushes.

“The hygiene kits is to prepare ground for the coming back of the children to reunite with their families hopefully, there is no hygiene practice in captivity,” she said.

Also speaking to NAN, the Child Protection Specialist of UNICEF, Kaduna office, Dr. Wilfred Mamah, said the unfortunate incident was a brutal attack on the whole essence of child protection.

He lamented that the childrens right to life, survival and development was abridged, which left their mothers and fathers hearts broken, and the community agitated.

Mamah, therefore said at UNICEF, they work with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Development, being a Government establishment who supports children to carry out the immediate interventions towards psychosocial support.

The Specialist said they trained social workers and psychosocial support therapists who had went to the Kuriga community and reached out to mothers and fathers that were affected by the incident.

He also said another area of intervention they would carry is taking electronic documentation of the families that were affected by the incident.

He equally said they were carrying out social mobilisation, adding that information is needed to be carried out to keep the community informed,”Mamah said.

Speaking on behalf of families of the kidnapped children, Alhaji Jibrin Ali, thanked UNICEF for the gesture.

He also thanked the Kaduna state government for it support and committment towards ensuring the rescue of their children.

Ali urged the Government and security agencies not to relent towards ensuring that their children are rescued.(NAN)