A mass kidnapping in central Nigeria has once again highlighted the country’s escalating security crisis,with over 300 students and teachers abducted from St. Mary’s Secondary School in Niger state. The brazen attack, confirmed by the Christian Association of Nigeria, follows a similar incident earlier this week and comes amid a surge in school abductions and broader violence across the region. The Nigerian President has as cancelled planned international engagements to address the unfolding situation, underscoring the gravity of the threat facing the nation’s vulnerable student population.
قوات الأمن النيجيرية في شيبوك، 31 مارس 2024 (لوري شورشمان/فرانس برس)
More than 300 students and teachers were abducted from a Catholic school in central Nigeria early Friday, a Christian group announced Saturday, marking the second such incident at a school in the country within a week. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) stated that the total number of those taken hostage reached 303 students and 12 teachers, “following a headcount” after the kidnapping at St. Mary’s Secondary School in Niger State.
The association had previously reported 227 people were missing. The new figure represents nearly half of the school’s total student population of 629. A CAN spokesperson told the French news agency on Friday that the abducted students were both male and female, correcting an earlier report that all were girls. The kidnapping at St. Mary’s follows the abduction of 25 students from a secondary school in Kebbi State (northwestern Nigeria) on Monday.
Amid growing security concerns in Africa’s most populous nation, authorities have ordered the closure of all schools in the neighboring states of Katsina and Plateau as a precautionary measure. The government of Niger State has also closed numerous schools, and President Bola Tinubu canceled his international engagements, including attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to address the escalating crisis of school kidnappings.
The two recent abductions, along with an attack on a church in western Nigeria that left two people dead, occurred after former U.S. President Donald Trump threatened military action in response to what he described as the killing of Christians in Nigeria. The 2014 kidnapping of nearly 300 girls by Boko Haram in Chibok, Borno State, and the years-long captivity of some of them, remains a haunting memory for many Nigerians.
Niger State Government: School Defied Closure Orders
The Niger State government has accused St. Mary’s Secondary School of violating orders to temporarily close all boarding schools in parts of the state, following intelligence reports indicating “an elevated threat level” in areas bordering Kebbi State. Officials stated that the school “resumed academic activities without informing the state government or obtaining approval, thereby exposing students and staff to a risk that could have been avoided.” St. Mary’s Secondary School is located in Baberi, in the Agwara region of Niger State.
The Catholic Church in the area reported that “armed attackers invaded” the school between 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., kidnapping students, teachers, and a security guard who was shot. The Christian Association of Nigeria stated in its release, “Some students escaped, and parents have begun arriving to collect their children due to the school’s closure.” For years, armed criminal gangs have intensified their attacks in rural areas of northwestern and central Nigeria, where the presence of state institutions is waning, resulting in thousands of deaths and the abduction of others for ransom.
These gangs maintain camps in a vast forest spanning several states, including Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi, and Niger, from which they launch attacks. A United Nations source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the students from St. Mary’s may have been taken to the Birnin Gwari forest in neighboring Kaduna State. The development underscores the increasing reach and boldness of criminal groups operating in the region.
High Threat Level in Nigeria
Niger State Police said its units are searching for the abductees alongside the military, noting that security agencies are “combing the forests in an effort to rescue the kidnapped students.” The Nigerian president has placed security forces on high alert and dispatched Defense Minister Bello Matawalle to lead the search for the students from Kebbi State. His office confirmed that the minister has “experience in dealing with banditry and mass abductions,” having successfully secured the release of 279 students, aged 10 to 17, who were kidnapped in 2021 from a secondary school in Zamfara State (northwestern Nigeria).
In a separate attack on a church in western Nigeria on Tuesday, armed men killed two people during a prayer service that was being broadcast online. Dozens of worshippers are believed to have been kidnapped. As Nigeria faces security challenges on multiple fronts, kidnappings have increased across the country and become a favored tactic of gangs and extremist groups. While the bandits lack ideological motivations and are primarily driven by financial gain, their growing alliance with elements of Islamist militant groups active in the northeast for the past 16 years is raising concerns among authorities. These groups have been responsible for more than 40,000 deaths and the displacement of nearly two million people in northeastern Nigeria since 2019.
(French news agency, Al Arabi Al Jadeed)
