A deeply disturbing video making rounds on Nigerian social media has ignited public outrage after showing dozens of young boys, some reportedly as young as nine years old, dressed in military camouflage and put through weapons training in a forested location in Borno State.
The footage shows the children, many clad in oversized uniforms believed to have been stripped from fallen Nigerian soldiers, lined up and drilled in paramilitary exercises under the watch of armed militants. Security analysts and observers widely attribute the video to Boko Haram or its breakaway faction ISWAP, both of which have long exploited vulnerable children, many drawn from the Almajiri system of street-roaming boys across northern Nigeria, forcing them into armed service through fear, indoctrination, and coercion.
Sources within Borno State suggest that some of the boys seen in the video may be among those recently abducted from communities along the Ngoshe axis in Gwoza Local Government Area, an area that has seen a surge in insurgent activity. The deliberate use of stolen military uniforms is seen as part of a calculated strategy by the militants to militarize children while simultaneously demoralizing Nigerian security forces.
The video has renewed urgent calls on Nigerian authorities and international child protection agencies to intensify efforts to rescue and rehabilitate children trapped in insurgent-controlled territories, where the systematic use of child soldiers remains a severe and persistent violation of international humanitarian law.
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