🔗 Share this article

Armed attackers have seized over 300 pupils and educators in what appears to be the most significant collective seizures in modern Nigerian experience, according to a Christian organization on Saturday.

Growing Crisis in Educational Facilities

The Friday morning assault on St Mary's co-educational school in Niger state happened just days after gunmen stormed a high school in adjacent Kebbi state, abducting 25 girls.

Earlier reports had suggested 227 victims were seized, but new numbers emerged after a thorough verification exercise established that 303 students and 12 instructors had been kidnapped.

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

Government Reaction and Safety Actions

Local authorities have confirmed that security agencies and law enforcement are currently performing a comprehensive head count to determine the precise number of missing people.

In response to the increasing security fears, the local authorities has directed the closure of every schools in the state, with nearby states adopting comparable preventive measures.

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

President Bola Tinubu has cancelled overseas engagements, including attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on handling the situation.

Latest Violent Events

The educational institution abductions represent the latest in a sequence of safety breaches that have rocked the nation, including an assault on a place of worship in western Nigeria where assailants shot dead two people and seized numerous worshipers during a live-streamed service.

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

Past Background

Nigeria remains scarred by the memory of the mass abduction of almost 300 schoolgirls by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a ten years ago, with some of those girls still missing.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a concerning video clip circulated by religious groups, a frightened employee recounted hearing the noise of bikes and vehicles before hearing "forceful banging" on multiple entrances of the compound.

"Students were weeping," the witness said, recounting her fear while searching for keys to the section where the screaming was loudest.

The local Catholic diocese confirmed that the "assailants operated aggressively and uninterrupted for almost three hours, searching dormitories."

Citizen Reaction and Fears

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried guardians were collecting their students from schools following the closure order.

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

She stated that the "authorities is not doing enough to address insecurity," and expressed approval for external intervention to "salvage this situation."

Continuing Safety Challenges

For years, heavily armed criminal gangs have been carrying out murders and abductions for ransom in remote areas of northwest and middle Nigeria, where government control is minimal.

While no group has taken credit for the latest attacks, criminal groups seeking ransom payments often target schools in countryside locations where protection is inadequate.

These gangs maintain camps in extensive forest areas spanning multiple states in the west of Nigeria.

While these criminals have no ideological leanings and are primarily driven by monetary profit, their increasing alliance with extremist groups from the north-east has become a significant source of worry for authorities and security analysts alike.