Nearly 300 children were abducted by motorcycle-riding gunmen from their school in Nigeria’s northwest region last week, which activists are blaming on the security lapses plaguing Africa’s most populous country.
It is one of the largest school kidnappings in the decade since the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in Borno state’s Chibok village in 2014, which sparked the global #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign. Nearly 100 of the Chibok girls are still in captivity.
At least 1,400 Nigerian students have been seized from their schools in similar circumstances since 2014.
The victims of the latest kidnapping on Friday, were surrounded as they were starting their school day and marched into a forest, according to locals speaking to the AP. Among them were at least 100 children aged 12 or under.
School officials said one man was shot dead as he tried to save these students.
No particular group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, but experts say it’s likely a criminal gang. The group operating mainly in the northeast of Nigeria is the Islamist group Boko Haram, whose name loosely translates to “education is sinful”. The sectarian group Boko Haram has used kidnapped children as soldiers and sex slaves.
This latest raid was the second such abduction in Nigeria in a week, as another 200 people were kidnapped by gunmen in Borno state in the country’s northeast previously. They were mainly women and children.
On Friday, the Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu issued a statement condemning this week’s two abductions, saying he’s “confident that the victims will be rescued”.
‘The President directs security and intelligence agencies to immediately rescue the victims and ensure that justice is served against the perpetrators of these abominable acts.”
Tinubu was elected last year after running a campaign promising to end insecurity and kidnapping in Nigeria.
According to Nigeria based SBM Intelligence group, more than 3,600 people have been abducted between July 2022 and June 2023.
Conflict analysts have said a major factor in so many of these abductions is Nigeria’s poorly policed borders, which make it easy for people to smuggle in arms.
Nigeria’s kidnappers are known for their brutality and make many families scramble to pay a ransom for their children to return. In 2022, Nigerian lawmakers passed a bill to bar ransom payments that did little to change the circumstances.
One mother who lost five of her children to gunman in last Friday’s kidnapping told the AP, that she hopes for help from the government to arrest the attackers.
“The gunmen don’t allow us to farm, they don’t allow us to have peace outside… we don’t have security– no soldier, no police,” she said.