🔗 Share this article

Gunmen have seized more than 300 students and teachers in what appears to be the most significant mass kidnappings in recent Nigerian history, according to a Christian organization on Saturday.

Growing Emergency in Educational Facilities

The early Friday assault on St Mary's mixed-gender school in Niger state occurred just days after gunmen invaded a high school in adjacent Kebbi state, seizing 25 girls.

Initial reports had stated 227 individuals were taken, but updated figures surfaced after a detailed verification exercise confirmed that 303 pupils and 12 educators had been kidnapped.

The taken students, aged between eight and 18 years, constitute nearly 50 percent of the school's overall student body of 629.

Official Response and Safety Actions

Local authorities have confirmed that security departments and police are currently conducting a comprehensive head count to determine the precise number of abducted individuals.

In response to the increasing safety fears, the state government has directed the shutting of all schools in the state, with nearby states following comparable preventive actions.

Furthermore, the federal education department has ordered the provisional closure of 47 residential high schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has called off international commitments, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on managing the emergency.

Recent Violent Events

The educational institution kidnappings represent the most recent in a sequence of security breaches that have shaken the country, including an assault on a church in the west of Nigeria where assailants shot dead two people and abducted numerous congregation members during a live-streamed service.

These incidents have taken place against the background of international focus on Nigeria's security situation.

Historical Background

Nigeria continues to be traumatized by the memory of the mass kidnapping of almost 300 schoolgirls by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a ten years ago, with several of those victims still missing.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a disturbing video clip circulated by religious groups, a upset school staff member described hearing the noise of motorcycles and vehicles before hearing "forceful banging" on multiple entrances of the school premises.

"Children were crying," the witness said, describing her fear while looking for access to the section where the screaming was loudest.

The regional Catholic authority confirmed that the "attackers acted violently and uninterrupted for almost three hours, searching sleeping quarters."

Public Reaction and Concerns

At the same time, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried parents were collecting their students from educational institutions following the shutdown order.

One mother, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, voiced her shock at the scale of the abduction, asking how 300 students could be taken simultaneously.

She concluded that the "government is failing to act to combat insecurity," and expressed approval for external intervention to "salvage this situation."

Ongoing Safety Issues

For a long time, well-equipped bandit groups have been carrying out killings and abductions for ransom in remote areas of northwest and central Nigeria, where government control is limited.

While nobody has claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, criminal groups seeking ransom payments often attack schools in rural areas where security is inadequate.

These groups maintain bases in extensive forest areas spanning several states in western Nigeria.

Although these bandits have no ideological leanings and are primarily motivated by monetary profit, their increasing alliance with extremist groups from the north-east has become a significant cause of concern for officials and security analysts alike.