On Thursday Nigerian authorities stormed into a school in Northern Nigeria where they rescued hundreds of boys and men who had been undergoing torture.
One such captive who was rescued is Jibril who says he had tried to escape as a boy from an institution in Nigeria that called itself a place of Islamic teachings, he said he was hung up by his arms until bones in his shoulders broke.
Another teenager, one of about 400 men and boys freed in Thursday’s police raid, said boys were often kept in chains and those caught stealing food were whipped until they bled.
“They used car engine belts and electrical cables to flog us,” 15-year-old Suleiman told Reuters, staring at the floor. “Teachers used to sexually harass us. They tried to loosen my pants once but I fought them off and was beaten.”
And so days later after that rescue mission, horrific accounts continue to emerge stories are emerging about life in a two-storey house in Nigeria’s northern city of Kaduna as the authorities try to find families of the victims.
Seven people were arrested by the police during the raid on the building, which had a sign in Arabic at the entrance declaring itself “House of Imam Ahmad Bin Hanbal for the Application of Islamic Teachings”.
Some parents paid fees, believing it was an Islamic school. Some described it as a good institution and dismissed talk of abuse. Others saw it as a correctional facility. Police and regional officials said it was not registered as either.
Despite mixed accounts about its role, the abuse reported by victims has thrown a spotlight on Nigeria’s struggle to provide enough school places for its rapidly expanding population, leaving a gap for unregulated institutions that poor parents sometimes turn to.
This even as the United Nations says the West African nation’s population is projected to swell from 190 million to 400 million by 2050.
Primary education is officially free in that country but about 10.5 million Nigerian children aged five to 14 are not in school.
