They are currently living in forced exile as displaced victims of war and other violent crises. But this has not stopped about 80 children of refugees from different African countries from identifying with the global outrage over the abduction of over 270 schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State. In fact, they had used the last Children Day celebration to call for the immediate release of the kidnapped school girls who have been in captivity since April 14.
The refugee children displaying placards in support of the #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS campaign
The children also rendered songs, carrying placards of various inscriptions: “No retreat, No Surrender until we get our girls back to school”; “United we stand, Divided we fall”, denouncing the abduction of the children. They prayed and called for the immediate release of the Chibok schoolgirls.
Parents of the children who are refugees from several African countries reiterated their appeal to the Federal Government to assist them integrate into the Nigerian society. Speaking at a town hall meeting organised by the South West Zone of NCFRMI, Mrs. Hadiza Sani-Kangiwa, the Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of NCFRMI, advised refugees in Nigeria to be law abiding.
Sani-Kangiwa, who was represented by Ms Ngozi Ukaegbu, said the commission was aware of the plight of migrants and would endeavour to assist them.
Nikki Laoye, a humanitarian who works with the physically challenged children, explained that it was a delightful “opportunity for me to add my quota to improving the life of people. The people need emotional counselling because they left their countries. You want to ensure that they are in the right frame of mind because they are in another country.”
According to her, the major challenge is to deepen her understanding and know how to deal with their problems. “I have to do a research on dealing with the plight of refugees in Nigeria, especially those in the South West. The parents need job, school for children. Language education because some of them do not understand English, culture and value. Also we also need to train them on skill acquisition,” Laoye stated.
On the security challenge in the country, Laoye called on all Nigerians to join hands to fight against insecurity to save the lives of citizens.
Director of Job Creation at the Ministry of Special Duties, Mrs. Bisi Onayemi, said the ministry has established skill acquisition centres where people can learn various trades like, fashion designing, catering, metal fabrication, welding and carpentry. According to her, graduates, school certificate holders or even those who are not educated are allowed to learn the trade which is free of charge.
“We use any language to learn. If you fail to occupy your self with self employment, it leads to insecurity in the country such as kidnapping, Boko Haram, robbery. That is the cause because people are not doing anything. People have to learn a trade to keep themselves gainfully employed. With that you make money for yourself, family, employ your colleagues and contribute to national economy.
National economy
“With such efforts, the country would develop both socially and economically and the level of insecurity will reduce. This will prevent robbery in the country. The initiation started about 10 years ago. There is the Women Affair Department which has 18 skill acquisition centres in Lagos. From each acquisition centre, we have been training over 1,000 persons yearly,” she enumerated.
She therefore appealed to the refugees to avail themselves of such opportunities to learn trades that will better their lives and to establish
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