UNICEF on Friday donated 200 bags of rice and other relief materials to the families of the abducted Kuriga school children in Chikun, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Scores of children were on March 7, abducted from their school at Kuriga community in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State.
The relief materials included mosquito nets, sanitary pads, water treatments chemicals, water testing kits, soap, slippers, pomade, mats and tissue papers
Other donated items were footballs, skipping ropes, books, erasers, pencils, puzzles, among others, being part of play therapy items for the children who escaped captivity.
Theresa Panma, the Water Sanitation and Hygiene Specialist of UNICEF, Kaduna Field Office, said hygiene promotion and sanitation activities had become low in the community.
She said the people were no longer in the right state of mind to continue good hygiene practice due to the unfortunate incident that had destabilised the communities.
Panma added that neglecting sanitary and hygiene activities could lead to outbreak of diseases.
She said the children, if rescued, were likely to come back with skin related diseases resulting from lack of hygiene practice in the bushes.
“The hygiene kits are 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 the Child Protection Specialist of UNICEF, Kaduna Filed Office, Dr Wilfred Mamah, said the unfortunate incident was a brutal attack on the whole essence of child protection.
He lamented that the children’s 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 worked with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Development, being a government establishment that supports children to carry out the immediate interventions towards psycho-social support.
The specialist said they trained social workers and psycho-social support therapists who had gone to the Kuriga community and reached out to mothers and fathers that were affected by the incident.
He also said another area of intervention would be taking electronic documentation of the families that were affected by the incident.
Mamah added that they were carrying out social mobilisation, saying that prompt information dissemination channels needed to be established to keep the community informed.
Speaking on behalf of families of the kidnapped children, Alhaji Jibrin Ali, thanked UNICEF for the gesture.
Ali also thanked the Kaduna State Government for its support and commitment towards ensuring the rescue of their children.
He urged the governments and security agencies not to relent towards ensuring that their children were brought home safe.
