KEY POINTS

• Children from the Child Rights Advocacy Club in Mashi, Katsina petitioned their council chairman and district head to act on climate and environmental risks facing their schools.
• The children demanded safe drinking water, functional toilets, drainage fixes, tree-planting and tougher school security, naming specific schools already in disrepair.
• The council, through the deputy chairman, and Mashi district head Kabir Aminu pledged action, including a crackdown on illegal tree-cutting and new school environmental clubs.

A group of children in northern Nigeria walked into the offices of their local government on Sunday and told officials that climate change and neglect are making their schools unsafe.

The young advocates, members of the Child Rights Advocacy Club in Mashi Local Government Area of Katsina, met the council chairman and the district head to plead for urgent fixes. Save the Children International supported the visit through its Education Cannot Wait-funded program, which runs in communities across northern Nigeria.

What the children are asking for

The children said flooded school grounds, crumbling sanitation, deforestation and loose boundaries are bleeding into their education and health, turning daily lessons into a struggle. They spoke on behalf of peers across their communities in Katsina who face the same conditions every school day.

A’isha Mutaka called for safe and reliable water sources in schools so students can stay healthy, particularly during the rainy season when flooding puts shallow wells at risk. She also pressed the officials to install clean, well-maintained toilets with hand-washing facilities to curb open defecation.

Halimatu Yusuf urged the council to improve waste management and rehabilitate drainage systems in their communities so blocked waterways stop flooding school compounds during heavy rains.

Salamatu Mohammed asked for aggressive tree-planting campaigns and tougher enforcement against illegal logging, arguing that green schoolyards would shield pupils from rising heat.

Abdulhamid Surajo stressed the need for proper fencing and guards to protect school property, stop livestock from grazing inside compounds and support school gardens. He named Government Pilot Secondary School Majigiri, Afadu Primary School and Doguru Primary and Secondary Schools among the worst affected.

Officials pledge action towards Katsina schools climate change

Jamilu Yusuf, deputy to Mashi Council chairman Salisu Kallah, told the delegation the council would take concrete steps on the issues. He promised a fresh push on the existing ban on illegal tree cutting and a drive toward safer, more conducive classrooms.

Mashi district head Kabir Aminu, who also holds the traditional title of Iyan Katsina, called for school environmental clubs and community-led sustainability drives to fight degradation from the ground up.

The advocacy also ran under the Education Cannot Wait project that Save the Children International delivers in Nigeria. Alongside the environmental demands, the children used drama and artwork to flag gender inequality, tying safety, learning and opportunity to their environmental pleas.

Their message to the adults in the room was simple: act before the next rainy season arrives and another term begins under the same strain.