The Federal Government of Nigeria has secured the release of 100 schoolchildren abducted last month from St. Mary’s Private Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Papiri, Niger State, according to officials familiar with the operation.
The development offers a measure of relief in a mass kidnapping that initially saw 303 students and 12 teachers seized, but leaves the fate of more than 160 individuals, including all 12 teachers, still unresolved.
Channels TV reports that the students were freed on Sunday and are currently undergoing medical checks and trauma counseling before reunification with their families.
No details were immediately provided regarding the terms of their release, or whether a ransom was paid. Authorities have maintained a security cordon around the region since the abduction.
The attack on November 21 was one of the largest school kidnappings in Nigeria since the 2014 Chibok abduction, underscoring a persistent and worsening security crisis.
Bandits, armed groups operating primarily in the country’s northwest and north-central regions, have turned mass kidnappings for ransom into a rampant criminal enterprise.
These groups, distinct from the Islamist insurgents in the northeast, exploit vast ungoverned forest spaces and often outgun poorly equipped local security forces.
The Papiri assault followed a now-familiar pattern: armed men on motorcycles stormed the school’s dormitories around 2:00 a.m., operating for over three hours before escaping with their captives into the nearby forests.
While 50 pupils managed to escape within the first day, the incident triggered a national outcry and a severe government response.
President Bola Tinubu cancelled planned international travel to oversee the crisis, imposing a 24-hour security cordon and authorizing aerial surveillance across parts of Niger, Kwara, and Kebbi States.
The government also ordered the indefinite closure of all schools in Niger State and numerous federal institutions in high-risk zones—a stopgap measure that highlights the profound vulnerability of educational institutions.
This incident is not isolated. It follows a grim pattern of attacks targeting schools, a tactic that inflicts profound psychological trauma, disrupts education, and provides kidnappers with a high volume of captives to leverage for ransom payments.
The government officially maintains a “no ransom” policy, but the scale of the kidnapping economy suggests payments, often arranged by desperate families and communities, continue to fuel the cycle.
While the release of the 100 children marks a significant breakthrough, the continued captivity of over 160 others, including all the teachers, means the crisis is far from over.
Source: PM News