🔗 Share this article

Gunmen have abducted in excess of 300 schoolchildren and staff in one of the most significant mass kidnappings in recent Nigerian experience, as reported by a Christian organization on the weekend.

Growing Emergency in School Facilities

The Friday morning raid on St Mary's mixed-gender school in Niger state came just a short time after gunmen invaded a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, taking 25 female students.

Initial accounts had stated 227 victims were taken, but updated numbers emerged after a detailed assessment determined that 303 students and 12 educators had been kidnapped.

The taken children, ranging between eight and 18 years, represent nearly 50 percent of the school's total student body of 629.

Government Response and Security Measures

State officials have announced that security departments and police are currently conducting a thorough assessment to establish the exact number of missing people.

In response to the increasing safety fears, the state government has ordered the closure of all schools in the region, with nearby states following similar preventive steps.

Furthermore, the federal education ministry has directed the temporary shutting of 47 residential high schools across the country.

President Bola Tinubu has called off international engagements, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on handling the crisis.

Recent Violent Events

The educational institution abductions represent the latest in a sequence of safety incidents that have shaken the nation, including an assault on a church in western Nigeria where assailants shot dead two people and seized dozens congregation members during a online broadcast service.

These events have taken place against the backdrop of international attention on Nigeria's security situation.

Past Background

Nigeria remains traumatized by the legacy of the mass kidnapping of almost 300 female students by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a decade ago, with several of those victims still unaccounted for.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a disturbing video clip circulated by Christian organizations, a frightened worker described hearing the sounds of motorcycles and cars before hearing "violent banging" on multiple entrances of the compound.

"Children were screaming," the witness stated, describing her terror while looking for keys to the area where the screaming was loudest.

The local Catholic diocese confirmed that the "assailants operated aggressively and without interruption for nearly three hours, searching dormitories."

Public Reaction and Concerns

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried parents were collecting their children from schools following the closure directive.

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

She concluded that the "authorities is failing to act to address insecurity," and voiced approval for external intervention to "salvage this situation."

Continuing Safety Challenges

For years, heavily armed criminal gangs have been carrying out killings and kidnappings for ransom in rural areas of northern and central Nigeria, where government control is minimal.

While nobody has taken credit for the recent incidents, bandit gangs demanding ransom payments often attack schools in countryside locations where security is weak.

These gangs maintain camps in vast forest areas spanning multiple states in western Nigeria.

Although these criminals have no political motives and are mainly motivated by financial gain, their increasing alliance with jihadist groups from the north-east has become a major source of worry for authorities and security analysts alike.