Four Months in Captivity: Borno School Children Still Missing as Families Await Their Return
The prolonged abductions of 42 children from Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School, Askira-Uba, Borno State, has continued to cause concern for their safety, education and wellbeing four months after their abductions.
In May 2026, the children were removed from the school, and it was reported that some of the abducted children were as young as two years old. Families have been waiting for news of their children’s release, and the situation is still not clear.
The extended separation has also disrupted children’s schooling and deprived them of the school and family settings in which they are developing. A longer separation from parents and established routines may raise further safeguarding issues for younger children.
This has led to parents making public demands for action in the past. According to one of the families, 46 children were still in captivity after 98 days, while Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum stated that the Federal Government and the state were working to get the children released. Later, it was reported that the number being sought was 44.
The children are still at the centre, and four months into the abduction, the children continue to be the focus of calls for urgent action to bring them home and ensure they have access to education and other necessary support.
Every day is a day without their children for the affected families. For the children, it’s another time out of school, out of family, out of the safety that is supposed to be theirs.
