For 12-year-old Goni Mustapha, school was a distant reality. His village in Borno State was attacked 6 years ago. Schools were burnt, teachers fled. The entire village was rendered empty. Worse still, Mustapha lost one of his legs amid the crisis.

Since then, Mustapha has spent his days in makeshift shelters at the Gongulong IDP camp in Maiduguri. Having been rendered a PWD by crisis, he was subjected to petty household chores. He and other children who have suffered similar fates roamed the camp, day to day — out of school, out of options, out of time.

Mustapha is just one of 1.4 million children in Northeast Nigeria currently in desperate need of access to education.

Conflict has torn through the BAY (Borno, Adamawa, Yobe) states, destroying schools, displacing 2 million children, and instilling fear with every kidnapping and abduction from schools. Today, 60% of internally displaced children in camps have no access to school. Meanwhile, host communities are overwhelmed, with crowded classrooms, dilapidated structures and limited resources.

These are more than mere numbers. They are tales of stolen childhoods, bleak futures and a threat to us all. 

But there is hope.