🔗 Share this article

Armed attackers have kidnapped more than 300 pupils and educators in what appears to be the most significant group abductions in recent Nigerian history, according to a Christian organization on the weekend.

Escalating Emergency in Educational Institutions

The Friday morning raid on St Mary's mixed-gender school in western Nigeria happened just a short time after armed men stormed a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, abducting 25 girls.

Earlier accounts had indicated 227 victims were seized, but updated figures surfaced after a comprehensive counting process confirmed that 303 pupils and 12 educators had been kidnapped.

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

Official Response and Security Actions

Local authorities have confirmed that intelligence departments and law enforcement are currently conducting a comprehensive head count to determine the exact number of missing individuals.

In response to the growing security fears, the local authorities has ordered the closure of every schools in the region, with neighboring states adopting comparable preventive steps.

Additionally, the federal education ministry has ordered the temporary closure of 47 residential high schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has postponed overseas commitments, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to focus on managing the crisis.

Latest Security Incidents

The educational institution abductions constitute the most recent in a sequence of security breaches that have shaken the country, including an attack on a church in the west of Nigeria where gunmen shot dead two individuals and seized many congregation members during a online broadcast service.

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

Past Background

Nigeria continues to be traumatized by the legacy of the large-scale abduction of nearly 300 female students by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a decade ago, with several of those girls still missing.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a concerning recording shared by Christian groups, a distraught worker described hearing the noise of bikes and cars before hearing "forceful banging" on multiple entrances of the compound.

"Students were screaming," the staff member reported, recounting her panic while looking for access to the section where the crying was most intense.

The local Catholic authority stated that the "assailants acted aggressively and uninterrupted for nearly three hours, searching sleeping quarters."

Citizen Reaction and Concerns

At the same time, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, concerned parents were picking up their students from schools following the closure order.

One mother, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, expressed her shock at the magnitude of the abduction, questioning how 300 students could be abducted at once.

She stated that the "government is not doing enough to address the security crisis," and voiced support for external intervention to "resolve this crisis."

Ongoing Security Issues

For a long time, well-equipped bandit groups have been carrying out killings and kidnappings for ransom in rural areas of northwest and middle Nigeria, where government control is minimal.

While no group has taken credit for the recent attacks, criminal groups demanding ransom payments frequently attack schools in rural areas where security is weak.

These groups maintain bases in extensive woodland areas straddling several states in the west of Nigeria.

Although these bandits have no ideological leanings and are mainly motivated by financial gain, their growing cooperation with extremist groups from the northeastern region has become a significant cause of worry for authorities and security analysts alike.