In June 2026, Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum ordered the immediate closure of the Bama camp as part of the state’s plan to shut all displacement sites by 2027. Advocacy group PeacePro echoed similar calls to the federal government weeks later. While both are right to insist that internally displaced camps (IDP) should close, they overlook a critical issue. Without a concrete plan to educate displaced children during and after relocation, these closures could worsen the region’s growing illiteracy and security crises.
?Every year, new children are born inside displacement camps. They should grow up learning the alphabet, numbers, and social studies, not merely surviving displacement. Yet in the BAY region (Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states), many displaced children aged six to eight have never set foot inside a classroom. They grow older without the one tool that could transform their lives: an education.
?A child who survives conflict should not also have to survive illiteracy. According to UNICEF and the Global Partnership for Education, roughly two million children remain out of school across Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, where 56 percent of displaced children do not attend school at all. Nationally, UNICEF puts Nigeria’s out-of-school population at 18.3 million, the highest in the world.
?Solving this crisis requires three decisive actions: mandate a functioning government school in every IDP camp and resettlement site before decommissioning; eliminate the financial and geographical barriers keeping children home; and fund trauma-informed teaching alongside school security under a single budget line.
?The stakes reach far beyond missed classroom hours. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo warned that Nigeria’s out-of-school children represent ‘recruitment for future Boko Haram.’ UNICEF’s regional director for West and Central Africa similarly cautioned that the longer children stay out of school, the greater their risk of abuse, abduction, and recruitment by armed groups. Furthermore, researchers studying displaced youth found that being barred from school drives psychological distress as severe as original conflict trauma. Studies on Boko Haram, ISWAP, and northern bandit networks consistently show that economic desperation, protection promises, and coercion drive youth recruitment, the exact conditions idle adolescents endure daily in displacement camps.
?The clearest fix requires building and staffing permanent public primary and secondary schools inside every formal and informal IDP camp across the northeast. When Governor Zulum announced Bama’s closure, official statements covered screening and resettlement logistics but offered no commitment regarding where resettled children would attend school. State and federal authorities, through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and State Universal Basic Education Boards, must require verified proof of an accessible government school before closing any camp or resettlement site.
?Proven models already exist. The UNICEF-backed Global Partnership for Education Accelerated Funding project targeted two million out-of-school children across Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, building on an earlier phase that reached 180,000 children. Similarly, Street Child of Nigeria, supported by the Qatar Fund for Development, enrolled 48,575 out-of-school children across the same states over four years. These programs prove that government-partnered education initiatives deliver when funding aligns with political will.
?However, these interventions lack permanence. Most remain donor-funded, time-limited projects attached to camps targeted for demolition. NGO-built schools inside temporary camps act as stopgaps, not policy. UBEC and state governments must formally designate at least one school per camp as permanent public infrastructure, equipped with its own budget line, staffing establishment, and legal mandate to operate regardless of camp closures.
?Although basic education is legally free in Nigeria, hidden costs persist. Uniforms, exam fees, textbooks, and transportation create overwhelming barriers for households surviving on relief handouts. Many camps sit far from host communities, forcing children to walk long distances through unsafe terrain. Authorities should deploy performance-based enrollment financing, expand federal school-feeding programs, and subsidize transportation or boarding for children living beyond safe walking distances.
?Classrooms alone cannot undo trauma. A 2025 clinical study of abused children in northeastern IDP camps revealed that trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy measurably reduced post-traumatic stress symptoms, proving that psychosocial care is a prerequisite for learning. Every government school built inside IDP camps must integrate trained counselors and trauma-informed teachers from day one, alongside accelerated learning tracks for older teenagers who have missed years of schooling.
?Establishing permanent, trauma-informed, and accelerated schools in every camp will give displaced children a stake in their future rather than leaving a vacuum for armed groups to fill. This policy will ease pressure on host communities, shrink recruitment pools for armed networks, and protect young girls from early marriage and forced labor. Leaving this education gap unaddressed will only compound the cycle of displacement, recruitment, and loss that Northeast Nigeria has endured for over fifteen years.