🔗 Share this article

Officials in Nigeria have obtained the freedom of a hundred seized schoolchildren captured by attackers from a Catholic school last month, per reports from a United Nations official and regional news outlets on Sunday. Yet, the whereabouts of another 165 individuals presumed to remain held captive stayed unclear.

Background

In November, 315 students and staff were taken from a co-educational boarding school in central a Nigerian state, as the country was gripped by a surge of group seizures echoing the notorious 2014 jihadist group kidnapping of female students in a town in north-east Nigeria.

Around fifty managed to flee shortly afterward, leaving two hundred and sixty-five thought to be in captivity.

The Handover

The 100 students are due to be transferred to local government officials this Monday, according to the source.

“They will be handed over to state authorities on Monday,” the individual told AFP.

Local media also confirmed that the freeing of the students had been achieved, though they lacked specifics on whether it was the result of negotiation or military force, and no details on the fate of the still-missing individuals.

The freeing of the youngsters was announced to the press by a government spokesperson Sunday Dare.

Response

“We have been praying and waiting for their return, if this is confirmed then it is a cheering development,” said a representative, speaking for the local diocese of the religious authority which operates the institution.

“Yet, we are not officially aware and have lacked official communication by the government.”

Wider Crisis

While kidnappings for ransom are prevalent in the nation as a method for gangs and militants to make quick cash, in a spate of mass abductions in November, many people were taken, casting an critical attention on the country's serious security situation.

The nation faces a years-long jihadist insurgency in the north-east, while marauding gangs conduct abductions and plunder villages in the northwestern region, and conflicts between farmers and herders concerning scarce land and resources continue in the central belt.

On a smaller scale, militant factions linked to separatist movements also haunt the country’s restive southeastern region.

The Chibok Shadow

One of the most prominent large-scale abductions that drew global concern was in 2014, when about three hundred female students were snatched from their school in the north-eastern town of Chibok by insurgents.

A decade later, the country's hostage-taking problem has “evolved into a structured, profit-seeking industry” that collected approximately a significant sum between a recent twelve-month period, as per a study by a Lagos-based research firm.