Parents of the more than 265 children and staff abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State have appealed to the government to secure their immediate release.
Armed gangs last week stormed the school in Papiri, Agwarra Local Government Area, seizing over 300 children in what has become the latest in a resurgence of mass kidnappings targeting schools across Nigeria. At least 50 of the abducted students managed to escape, but the majority remain in captivity. The same week, 25 schoolgirls were kidnapped in another incident, while 38 worshippers were abducted from a church in the eastern part of the country.
Parents of the missing children expressed deep distress as they awaited news. One father, Michael Ibrahim, said his four-year-old son—who suffers from asthma—was taken despite being too young to speak. He added that the ordeal has left his wife hospitalised. Another parent, Sunday Isaiku, pleaded for the safe return of his child, saying he would do anything if he had the power to bring the child home.
Nigeria continues to grapple with mass abductions, mostly carried out by criminal gangs seeking ransom and operating in poorly secured rural communities. While many captives are eventually rescued or released, others escape on their own, and some remain missing for years. More than a decade after the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction, around 90 of the victims are still unaccounted for.
No group has claimed responsibility for the St. Mary’s abduction, and no ransom demand has been made four days after the attack. Reverend Bulus Yohanna of the Kontagora Catholic Diocese urged both federal and state authorities to combine efforts to rescue the students and reunite them with their families.
A health worker who witnessed the raid said the attackers transported the children on motorcycles, placing them in front and behind the riders.
Data from conflict-monitoring organisation ACLED shows 42 incidents of violence targeting students in Nigeria so far this year, a decline from 71 recorded in 2024. About 40 percent of this year’s abductions involved ransom demands. ACLED attributed most of the attacks to fragmented bandit groups, noting that Islamist groups were less frequently responsible.
