Fifty Kidnapped Students Escape Captors After Major School Abduction in Niger State
Fifty of the 315 children kidnapped by armed men from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State, have escaped and been reunited with their families, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria.
A massive military-led search continues for the remaining 265 children and 12 teachers still held captive after the pre-dawn raid.
The mass abduction triggered widespread concern and prompted several states to shut down schools following a second attack in Kebbi State, where 20 pupils were seized from a boarding school on Monday. Similar closures were ordered in Kebbi, Niger, Katsina, Yobe, and Kwara, as authorities scramble to prevent further kidnappings.
President Bola Tinubu has responded by authorising the recruitment of 30,000 additional police officers and directing the redeployment of personnel from VIP protection units to frontline security duties, especially in rural areas. He has also postponed his foreign engagements, including attendance at the G20 summit, to focus on the escalating crisis.
The Papiri abduction surpasses the scale of the 2014 Chibok kidnapping, once again exposing the country’s vulnerability to criminal gangs known locally as bandits, who have turned mass kidnapping into a lucrative enterprise despite laws against ransom payments. Statements from the Vatican, including a plea from Pope Leo XIV, have echoed global concern as security forces comb forests and remote routes in search of the children.
Broader narratives around religious persecution have resurfaced internationally, though Nigerian officials insist that extremist violence affects people of all faiths and is driven more by criminality and territorial struggles than religion alone.
Every child has the right to education, protection, and freedom from all forms of violence, including the right to be free from abduction, trafficking, and unlawful detention.
This places a duty on the state and society to ensure that schools remain safe spaces, that children are protected from being taken or harmed, and that their learning, dignity, and well-being are never endangered by insecurity or criminal activity.
