Lagos (EFE).- All students kidnapped by armed individuals last month from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, in Niger state in Nigeria, have been freed following the recent release of 130 students, officials told EFE on Monday.
“Yes, 130 have been freed. With this, there is no one left in captivity,” said Sunday Dare, one of the spokesperson for the Nigerian Presidency.
Nigerian state police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun also confirmed to EFE that 130 students had been released and that authorities were “conducting the necessary checks” before handing them over “to their parents and the school authorities.”
President Bola Tinubu’s government announced late Sunday that St. Mary’s students, kidnapped on Nov. 21 in the remote community of Papiri, were rescued from their captors.
“The remaining 130 schoolchildren abducted by terrorists at St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State, on November 21, have now been released. They are expected to arrive in Minna on Monday and rejoin their parents for the Christmas celebration,” Special Adviser Information and Strategy to President Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga, posted on social media platform X.
“One hundred were released earlier by the terrorists, taking the total of freed students to 230. The freedom of the schoolchildren followed a military-intelligence driven operation,” he added.
Last month, an armed gang broke into the Catholic school and kidnapped students and teaching staff. Initial reports pointed to at least 303 students and 12 teachers taken captive, although the actual figure was apparently lower, as several students managed to escape.
“Everyone has returned, all the kidnapped. (…) Some students believed to have been abducted were later discovered in their homes. No one is in captivity. Everyone has already been located,” said Rev. Joseph Hayab, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria.
About 50 students managed to escape on their own between Nov. 21 and Nov. 22, while another 100 were released on Dec. 8.
Following the mass abduction, the Nigerian government ordered the temporary closure of 41 schools in the states of Niger, Kebbi (north-west), Plateau and Benue in the central region of the territory.
Several Nigerian states, especially in the central and northwest, suffer frequent attacks by bandits, or criminal gangs who commit mass assaults and kidnappings for ransom, and are often described as “terrorists” by the authorities.
According to a UNICEF report published in April 2024, only 37 percent of schools in 10 conflict-affected states in Nigeria have early warning systems in place.
This insecurity is compounded by the activity of the jihadist group Boko Haram since 2009 in the northeast of the country and, since 2016, by its splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province.
In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a school in the village of Chibok, in northeastern Nigeria, an event that caused shock both domestically and globally.
Although many escaped their captors, the United Nations says at least 91 remain missing. EFE
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