Authorities in Niger state have ordered the closure of all schools after gunmen abducted 303 students and 12 teachers from St. Mary’s School, a Catholic institution in the remote Papiri community.
The updated figures were released Saturday by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), revising an earlier count of 215 abducted schoolchildren.
According to CAN’s Niger state chairman, Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, a verification exercise and final headcount revealed the higher total. Yohanna, who visited the scene on Friday, said an additional 88 students were seized while attempting to flee.
The abducted students,
boys and girls aged 10 to 18-were taken during a coordinated attack on the school.
The mass kidnapping comes just four days after 25 students were abducted in a similar incident in Maga, a town in neighboring Kebbi state roughly 170 kilometers away.
No group has claimed responsibility for either attack, though security agencies say tactical units and local hunters have been deployed to track down the perpetrators and rescue the victims.
Yohanna also dismissed comments by the state government suggesting the school had reopened for classes, despite earlier instructions to shut schools in the area due to security concerns.
“We did not receive any circular. It must be an afterthought and a way to shift blame,” he said, urging affected families to “remain calm and prayerful.”
Mass abductions from schools have become a recurring element of Nigeria’s broader insecurity challenge, with armed gangs frequently targeting educational institutions to gain attention and leverage. UNICEF reported last year that only 37% of schools across 10 conflict-affected states have early warning systems capable of detecting imminent threats.
Following an emergency meeting with security officials in the state capital, Minna, Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago announced that all schools in Niger state would close with immediate effect.
“All schools are closed till further notice. So we have declared a Christmas holiday for all schools in Niger state,” he told reporters Saturday.
The surge in kidnappings comes as the former U.S. President Donald Trump continues to claim that Christians in Nigeria face targeted killings—an assertion not supported by evidence. Violence in the country has affected both Christian and Muslim communities; the earlier school abduction in Kebbi state occurred in a predominantly Muslim area.
Credit: AfricaNews
