Nigerian authorities secure release of 130 pupils from St Mary’s school, with all hostages now freed after weeks of captivity.
ABUJA: Nigerian authorities have secured the release of 130 kidnapped schoolchildren taken from a Catholic boarding school in November.
Presidential spokesman Sunday Dare announced the development on social media, stating “Another 130 abducted Niger state pupils released, none left in captivity.”
The students were abducted in late November from St Mary’s co-educational boarding school in north-central Niger state.
This latest release follows the freeing of around 100 hostages earlier this month.
Initial reports suggested 315 students and staff were missing after the attack in the rural hamlet of Papiri.
Approximately 50 individuals escaped immediately after the kidnapping.
A United Nations source indicated all those taken have now been released, clarifying that dozens initially thought kidnapped had actually fled during the attack.
Verification has been complicated by the children’s remote, scattered homes across rural Nigeria.
“The remaining set of girls/secondary school students will be taken to Minna,” the Niger state capital, on Monday, the UN source said.
Daniel Atori, a spokesman for the Christian Association of Nigeria in Niger state, said final verification is pending.
He confirmed state Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago notified the local bishop of the children’s release, though no specific figure was mentioned.
It remains unclear who seized the children or how the government secured their freedom.
Analysts suggest authorities likely paid a ransom, a practice technically prohibited by Nigerian law.
Kidnappings for ransom have become a common criminal enterprise in the country.
A recent spate of mass abductions in November highlighted Nigeria’s severe security challenges.
The crisis includes jihadist violence in the northeast and armed bandit gangs in the northwest.
This incident recalls the 2014 Boko Haram kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls in Chibok.
A recent report by SBM Intelligence consultancy notes kidnap-for-ransom has become a “structured, profit-seeking industry” in Nigeria.
The report estimates the industry raised around $1.66 million between July 2024 and June 2025. – AFP
