TLEDESK: Armed men have abducted 227 pupils and teachers from a Catholic boarding school in central Nigeria, officials confirmed on Friday, marking the country’s second major school kidnapping in less than a week and intensifying concerns over deteriorating security nationwide.
The attack targeted St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, located in the Agwarra district of Niger State. According to the Christian Association of Nigeria, the victims include 215 schoolgirls and 12 teachers, seized during a night-time raid between 1am and 3am. A security guard was shot during the assault.
Some students managed to escape in the chaos, prompting anxious parents to pick up their children as the school was ordered to shut down.
Wider Security Fears and Regional School Closures
The mass abduction prompted neighbouring Katsina and Plateau states to close all schools as a precaution. Niger State had earlier closed several boarding schools following intelligence reports warning of an “increased threat level” in districts bordering Kebbi State.
Authorities accused St Mary’s of defying temporary closure orders, a claim likely to fuel controversy as the government comes under renewed scrutiny for its handling of school safety.
The kidnapping follows a similar incident on Monday in Kebbi State, where 25 schoolgirls were taken by gunmen during an attack on a secondary school.
Meanwhile, a separate assault on a church in western Nigeria on Tuesday left two worshippers dead and dozens feared kidnapped during a service being livestreamed online.
National Response and Rising Pressure on Government
President Bola Tinubu cancelled all international engagements, including his planned attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to address the escalating crisis. Security agencies have been placed on high alert, and the defence minister, Alhaji Bello Matawalle, has been dispatched to lead search efforts.
The president’s office highlighted Matawalle’s track record, noting his role in securing the release of 279 schoolchildren abducted in Zamfara State in 2021.
Nigerian police say tactical units and the military are “combing the forests” across multiple states. A UN source, speaking anonymously, said the abducted children were likely taken to the Birnin Gwari forest in Kaduna State, a known stronghold of armed gangs.
A Landscape of Banditry and Jihadist Collaboration
The latest abduction underscores the worsening security situation in northwestern and central Nigeria, where heavily armed groups operate from remote forest camps across Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi and Niger states.
These gangs—commonly referred to as bandits—have no formal ideological goals and typically target communities for ransom. However, their growing collaboration with jihadist groups in the northeast has alarmed analysts and officials.
Nigeria is still haunted by the 2014 Chibok kidnapping, when Boko Haram militants abducted nearly 300 schoolgirls. Some of those victims remained in captivity for years, drawing global condemnation and sparking the “Bring Back Our Girls” movement.
In the country’s northeast, jihadist groups—who have fought a 16-year insurgency to establish a Caliphate—have killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million since the conflict intensified in 2019.
Growing National Crisis
Hostage-taking has surged nationwide, becoming a lucrative tactic for both bandits and jihadists. This week’s attacks have heightened fears among Nigerians and raised questions about the government’s ability to safeguard schools, places of worship and rural communities.
Search operations remain underway, but as families await news, the country once again finds itself confronting a painful and familiar crisis.
