* Victims report sexual assault, beatings
* Authorities try to reunite kids with families
* Institution not registered as school or correction centre
* Nigeria's education system in crisis
By Alexis Akwagyiram
KADUNA, Nigeria, Sept 29 (Reuters) - When Jibril 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."
Horror 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 who often spent years at the site.
Police arrested seven adults in 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.
The West African nation's population will swell from 190
million to 400 million by 2050, according to U.N. figures.
Primary education is officially free but about 10.5 million
Nigerian children aged five to 14 are not in school.
"Nigeria is facing a demographic tidal wave," said Matthew
Page, an associate fellow with the Africa Programme at Britain's
Royal Institute of International Affairs.
"The long-term viability of the Nigerian economy - and the
state itself - hinges on the government, religious, and
traditional institutions developing a plan to address this
challenge before it becomes impossible to remedy," he said.
Prior to Thursday's police raid, those who made it out of
the Kaduna institution were sometimes returned by families. Some
parents said they needed to discipline wayward children and
others said they were too poor to look after all their kids.
Kaduna state government said there were at least 77 boys
under 18 years old held there. The youngest was five.
Reuters spoke with seven victims and five parents of those
who had been inside, withholding their full names to protect
their privacy.
SHACKLED
All the victims said beatings were regular and said children
and men were frequently shackled. Days were dark, long and
hungry: food was only served at 10 a.m. and 11 p.m.
Suleiman's elder brother sent him to the institution five
months ago for skipping school. He was signed up to board while
he studied Arabic and Islam's holy book, the Quran.
"They beat us everywhere in the house, even in the mosque.
If you asked to speak with your family, they would shackle you,"
said the 15-year-old, who showed sores, scabs and scars on back.
When Suleiman and three friends were caught trying to steal
some garri - a staple food made from cassava shavings - they
were stripped and whipped, he said.
"When the police raided the school the whole place was in
pandemonium, we were so happy," he said. "What I want now is to
return home. I'll be a good boy."
Jibril, now 17 and who was hung up for trying to escape when
he was 10, said boys faced a stark choice: submit to regular
sexual assault or be beaten. Jibril chose beatings.
"The teachers and prefects raped boys. Those who were
sexually molested were enticed with canned fish. Those of us who
refused were caned," he said, blaming a scar beside his left eye
on a caning. "They used planks of wood to beat us."
He now struggles to raise his arms since his punishment for
trying to escape. He was sent home for six months after that
incident. His family returned him when he had healed.
Jibril and Suleiman are now in a safehouse on the edge of
Kaduna while the authorities try to find their relatives. Their
temporary home is filled with laughter as boys and teenagers, up
to 17 years old, play together. Those adults who were freed are
staying in a neighbouring building.
At the Kaduna institution, relatives were not allowed to see
boys for three months after admission and had limited visiting
rights after that, parents and children said. Punishment was
swift for those who talked of any abuse, boys said.
"If anyone tried to tell their family, they would be hung up
from a wall or put in chains," said 14-year-old Umar, whose
grandfather sent him to the facility two years ago for skipping
school.
SEXUAL ABUSE
About 40 police officers finally raided the building, acting
on a complaint by an uncle who was denied access to his nephews.
Police said they found several boys and men in chains.
Reuters filmed victims in chains on Thursday after the raid.
Some boys said they were shackled to broken power generators,
which they dragged around, including to bed or the bathroom.
Police said they expected to charge seven people, who they
said ran the institution, over physical and sexual abuse
allegations. Those arrested could not be reached for comment.
The building lies in Rigasa, a rundown Muslim district of
Kaduna, a city that, like Nigeria, is evenly split between
Muslims and Christians.
Reuters journalists who visited the labyrinthine building
saw wheels and generators attached to metal chains. Floors were
strewn with litter and stained sponge mattresses. Flies swarmed.
Children begged in the traffic on the streets outside.
Islamic schools, known as Almajiris, are common across the
mostly Muslim north of Nigeria. Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), a
local organisation, estimates about 10 million children attend
Islamic schools in the north.
President Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim, has sought to
encourage school attendance, with programmes that include one
offering free school meals that the government says reaches 9.8
million children in 32 of Nigeria's 36 states.
But Nigeria, an oil producing state whose finances by the
government's admission have been drained by corruption, only
spends 0.5% of gross domestic product on health and 1.7% on
education, among the lowest worldwide, the International
Monetary Fund said.
With few options, some parents defended the Kaduna
institution, which charged fees of 35,000 naira ($114) a term.
"There is no problem in this school," said a woman who only
gave her name as Zainab, wearing a Muslim veil and speaking
outside the locked gates. She said she had seven children at the
institution where she cooked meals and had not seen any abuse.
Ahmed Balrabe, a tailor who lives next to the site, said two
of his children attended the school and he had never encountered
any abuse. "It was good for them, they became calm," he said.
"They showed them how to read the Quran. I liked it."