🔗 Share this article

Gunmen have seized more than 300 students and teachers in one of the biggest group abductions in recent Nigerian times, as reported by a Christian organization on Saturday.

Growing Crisis in School Institutions

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

Earlier accounts had suggested 227 individuals were seized, but new figures surfaced after a thorough verification exercise established that 303 pupils and 12 teachers had been kidnapped.

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

Official Reaction and Security Actions

State authorities have announced that security departments and police are presently performing a thorough head count to verify the precise number of abducted individuals.

In response to the growing safety fears, the state government has ordered the shutting of all schools in the state, with neighboring states adopting comparable precautionary actions.

Additionally, the federal education department has directed the temporary shutting of 47 boarding secondary schools throughout the country.

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

Latest Security Events

The school kidnappings constitute the most recent in a series of safety breaches that have shaken the country, including an attack on a place of worship in western Nigeria where gunmen shot dead two people and abducted dozens worshipers during a live-streamed service.

These incidents have occurred against the backdrop of global focus on Nigeria's safety situation.

Past Background

Nigeria continues to be scarred by the memory of the large-scale abduction of almost 300 schoolgirls by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a ten years ago, with several of those girls still missing.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a concerning video clip shared by religious organizations, a frightened employee recounted hearing the noise of bikes and cars before experiencing "violent banging" on multiple gates of the compound.

"Students were crying," the staff member reported, recounting her terror while searching for access to the section where the crying was loudest.

The regional Catholic diocese confirmed that the "assailants acted violently and without interruption for almost three hours, moving through sleeping quarters."

Citizen Response and Concerns

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the periphery of Abuja, concerned parents were picking up their children from educational institutions following the closure directive.

One parent, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, voiced her disbelief at the scale of the kidnapping, asking how 300 children could be taken at once.

She stated that the "government is not doing enough to curb the security crisis," and expressed approval for external assistance to "salvage this crisis."

Continuing Safety Challenges

For years, heavily armed bandit groups have been carrying out killings and abductions for ransom in remote areas of northern and central Nigeria, where state presence is limited.

While no group has taken credit for the recent attacks, bandit gangs seeking ransom payments frequently attack schools in rural areas where security is inadequate.

These gangs maintain bases in extensive woodland areas straddling multiple states in western Nigeria.

While these criminals have no ideological leanings and are mainly motivated by monetary profit, their increasing alliance with jihadist groups from the northeastern region has become a major cause of concern for officials and security analysts alike.