Where Were the Adults? Supervision in Nigeria's Boarding Houses After the March Videos

In March 2026, videos emerged from Nigeria showing older boarders physically attacking younger children. At Igbinedion Education Centre in Benin City, a junior boy was kicked and beaten by older boys while other pupils watched. The footage spread across social media within hours. Videos of bullying at Lead British International School in Abuja also began circulating again, bringing earlier concerns back into the national conversation.

The public response was understandably strong. Parents, educators and child protection advocates wanted answers. Schools came under renewed pressure to introduce proper anti-bullying policies and reporting systems that children could trust and actually use.

Over the past week, I have looked at this issue from several different perspectives. I have written about the children who watched, the parents, the children who were expelled and those who quietly withdraw from learning after experiencing bullying. Today, I want to look at something that I believe deserves much closer attention. It is a simple question, one that a former student of the school asked publicly as soon as the video appeared. Where were the adults?

A question from someone who was there

Days after the video emerged, a woman identifying herself as a former student of Igbinedion Education Centre shared her memories of the school, as reported by The Nigeria Lawyer. Her account has not been independently verified, so I would not want to present every detail as established fact. However, one part of her statement deserves our attention. "And honestly, where were the adults?"

She also described incidents she said she had witnessed while at the school. "I recall boys taking off belts and flogging girls in open spaces in the middle of the day." We may not be able to verify every detail of her recollection. But the wider question is one I believe every school leader and every parent should be asking.

Physical bullying rarely happens without some warning. It takes time for an incident to develop. It takes an environment in which children feel that adults are either absent, unaware or unlikely to intervene. When children can attack one another at school without expecting an adult to step in, we need to look beyond the behaviour of the children involved. We need to examine the supervision around them.

The police asked the same question

The Edo State Police Command recognised that this was not simply a matter of disciplining the pupils involved. In a statement reported by The Nigeria Lawyer, the Command ordered a safe schools operation "with a mandate to identify the gap in supervision and leverage lessons learnt in this matter, to prevent a recurrence." It also urged parents and schools to "take greater responsibility in the moral upbringing and supervision of their children and wards."

I was particularly pleased to see the word supervision in an official police statement. In my experience working with schools in different countries, one of the biggest mistakes institutions make after an incident like this is to focus almost entirely on the children responsible. They investigate, impose sanctions and issue statements. All of those things may be necessary, but they do not address the conditions that allowed the behaviour to happen.

A boarding school is not simply a place where children attend lessons. It is where they live. It is their home during term time, including evenings, nights and weekends. The adults responsible for their care are standing in for parents who may be hundreds of miles away, and that responsibility cannot be taken lightly.

Not an isolated incident

ActionAid Nigeria made the same point in a wider context. Its Country Director, Andrew Mamedu, said, "This is not an isolated incident." He warned that "many more cases remain hidden due to weak reporting systems," and he identified a pattern that should concern every school leader: "Action is frequently triggered only when incidents go viral."

I think that last point is particularly important. If school leaders only become aware of serious bullying when a video circulates nationally, something has gone wrong much earlier. Schools should not depend on social media to discover what is happening to children in their care.

ActionAid also said that "ideally, effective school supervision mechanisms should be capable of detecting early warning signs of abuse." Early warning signs are exactly what we should be looking for. Not a viral video, not a hospital visit, not a public outcry. Good safeguarding means noticing changes in a child's behaviour, listening when something does not feel right and taking concerns seriously before they become serious incidents.

The teachers often know first

A detailed report by Leadership on bullying in Nigerian schools included accounts from students, teachers and parents. Adeyemi Samson Ajasa, Public Relations Officer of the National Association of Nigerian Students, made an observation that reflects something I have encountered in schools in many countries: "Many teachers are aware of students' behaviour long before management is."

This is worth thinking about. Teachers are often the first adults to notice changes in a child. They see who is becoming withdrawn, who is suddenly reluctant to come to lessons and who seems anxious around particular pupils.

The same report described the case of an 11-year-old pupil in Uyo whose parents said he had been moved to a senior dormitory, where the attacks continued. An Abuja teacher, Isaac Moji, also explained how fear of retaliation and a lack of trust in school systems stop many children from reporting bullying.

When we put these accounts together, a worrying picture emerges. Quite often, the information is already there. A housemaster may notice that a younger pupil has stopped eating properly. A teacher may see bruises during games. A matron may hear crying after lights out. Another pupil may quietly mention that someone is being threatened. These are not small details. They are warning signs.

The problem is what happens next. Is there a clear process for reporting these concerns? Does the information reach someone with the authority to act? Does anyone follow up to check that the child is safe? In some schools, concerns are passed from one person to another without anyone taking ownership. That is not a safeguarding system. Someone needs to be responsible for acting on concerns, and that action needs to happen promptly.

What good boarding supervision looks like

Having worked with schools in different countries, I have seen that the best boarding environments are not necessarily those with the strictest rules or the longest lists of punishments. They are the ones where adults are present, approachable and attentive to the children in their care. Good supervision is active. It is not simply having someone's name on a duty rota or assuming that another member of staff is keeping an eye on things.

It means having a named adult sleeping in or immediately next to every boarding house, rather than somewhere across the campus. It means proper morning and evening roll calls, with an adult checking that every child is accounted for, and regular, unannounced visits to dormitories, bathrooms and the less visible areas around the hostels. It means never leaving younger children under the authority of older pupils without an adult present.

It also means having a straightforward daily record. House parents should be able to note concerns, including those that may seem minor at first. A senior member of staff should review these records every morning and make sure the necessary action is taken. Small concerns become serious problems when nobody follows them up.

Training is another essential part of the picture. ActionAid called for teachers, guidance counsellors and administrators to receive continuous, mandatory safeguarding training. I would extend that training to matrons, cooks, security guards and drivers as well. In a boarding school, the person who first notices that something is wrong may not be a teacher. It could be the member of staff who serves meals, checks the gates or walks past the dormitories at night. Everyone working in a boarding environment needs to understand what safeguarding means, what to look out for and who to report concerns to.

Questions parents can ask before they pay the fees

Parents sometimes feel they have limited influence once they have chosen a school and paid the fees. I do not agree. Parents have every right to ask detailed questions about how their children will be supervised and protected, and I would encourage them to do so before choosing a boarding school.

A practical guide for Nigerian families published by SchoolRegistry NG in May offers some useful questions that parents can take along when visiting schools. It recommends that parents "Ask who sleeps near students, how roll calls work, and how house parents escalate concerns." It also advises them to "Ask who supervises prep, night hours, weekends, discipline, device use, and hostel movement." For parents of younger children, it suggests asking "who supervises juniors at night and whether your child can call you directly."

These are sensible questions. I would also want parents to establish "whether the school vets staff, whether teachers hold TRCN registration, and whether there is a named child-protection officer."

One warning in the guide deserves emphasis: "Avoid schools that block hostel inspection." I completely agree. If a school is asking parents to entrust their children to its care, it should be prepared to show them the accommodation, explain the supervision arrangements and answer reasonable questions about safeguarding. Parents should not feel they are being difficult by asking to see where their children will sleep. They are doing what responsible parents should do.

The test that matters

Nigeria now has a national anti-bullying policy. That is an important step forward, and I welcome it. But we must be realistic about what policies can achieve on their own. A policy cannot walk into a dormitory at midnight. It cannot notice that a child is frightened, step in when an older pupil becomes aggressive or reassure a younger child who is afraid to speak. People do those things.

The March videos were filmed by children using their phones, in places where adults should have been close enough to see or hear what was happening. That is why I keep returning to the question the former student asked. Where were the adults?

Every boarding school should be able to answer that question, not only when an incident occurs, but for every hour of every day and night. Who was on duty? Where were they? What were they responsible for? What would they have done if they had seen what was happening? These are basic questions about the care of children, and they should have clear answers.

We need to move beyond policies that look reassuring on paper and towards safeguarding that works in the everyday life of a school. Children should not have to wait for a video to go viral before someone takes their safety seriously. And parents should never have to wonder whether there was an adult nearby when their child needed one.

References

1. Chioma, Unini. "Igbinedion Education Centre Expels Students Involved In Bullying, Physical Assault Video; Alumna Recounts School Conditions, Questions Statement." The Nigeria Lawyer, 15 March 2026. https://thenigerialawyer.com/igbinedion-education-centre-expels-students-involved-in-bullying-physical-assault-video-alumna-recounts-school-conditions-questions-statement/

2. Chioma, Unini. "All Suspects Arrested: Police Charge Students To Family Court Over Igbinedion School Bullying." The Nigeria Lawyer, 21 March 2026. https://thenigerialawyer.com/all-suspects-arrested-police-charge-students-to-family-court-over-igbinedion-school-bullying/

3. The Guardian Nigeria. "ActionAid condemns recent bullying at Igbinedion Education Center." March 2026. https://guardian.ng/news/actionaid-condemns-recent-bullying-at-igbinedion-education-center/

4. Tyohemba, Henry. "Terror in Classrooms: Inside Nigeria's School Bullying Menace." Leadership, via AllAfrica, 22 March 2026. https://allafrica.com/stories/202603230539.html

5. SchoolRegistry NG. "Boarding School Safety Guide Nigeria: What Parents Must Check in 2026." 15 May 2026. https://schoolregistry.ng/blog/boarding-school-safety-guide-nigeria-2026