In recent years, Nigeria has faced a horrifying trend of the mass kidnapping of students from their schools.
These attacks, targeting vulnerable children in sanctuaries of learning, have not only shattered individual lives but also plunged the nation into a state of fear and outrage.
Daily Trust revisits 10 high profile abductions of schoolchildren that occurred in Nigeria in the last decade.
Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping
On April 14th, 2014, Boko Haram militants descended upon the Government Girls Secondary School at Chibok in Borno State.
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They terrorized the town with gunfire at night before storming the students’ hostels to abduct 276 students.
This event, the first of its kind targeting a school, sparked international outrage. Criticism swiftly fell upon the Nigerian government for its perceived inaction.
The social media campaign #BringBackOurGirls, ignited by celebrities and everyday people alike, mounted pressure on the then President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration.
While some of the girls were eventually rescued during the President Muhammadu Buhari tenure, others are still held captive by the Boko Haram.
Dapchi Schoolgirls Abduction
About four years after the Chibok abduction, Boko Haram kidnapped over 110 schoolgirls from Dapchi, Yobe State.
One hundred and four of them were released in March 2018 while five died on the day they were abducted. One of the victims, Leah Sharibu, is still in the hands of fighters, because according to them “she said she will not leave her Christian religion.”
Kankara Schoolboys Kidnapping
During the evening of December 11, 2020, over 300 pupils were kidnapped from a boarding school on the outskirts of Kankara, Katsina State by a gang of gunmen on motorcycles.
The bandits kidnapped the students from Government Science Secondary School, and took them on a long journey to some forests in Zamfara State.
The kidnapping caused confusion after the late leader of a Boko Haram faction, Abubakar Shekau, said that the students were kidnapped by his fighters.
However, authorities in Katsina and Zamfara states later denied his claim.
Some days later, the bandits released 340 students from the Zamfara state forest after the then governor of the state, Bello Matawalle, said that the Miyetti Allah group intervened.
Jangebe Schoolgirls Abduction
In February 2021, bandits attacked the girls’ boarding school in Jangebe town in Zamfara State and kidnapped about 317 students.
All hostages were released by the bandits on March 2, 2021, though claims varied as to the negotiation methods used by the Nigerian government to facilitate their release.
The attack attracted the attention of many people within and outside Nigeria, with many calling for the provision of security officers in boarding schools to protect the students.
The attack caused the state government to close most of the boarding schools located far from the city.
Kagara Kidnapping
On 17 February 2021, a school pupil was killed and 27 others were abducted by armed men around 3 am from their school in Kagara, Niger State.
Three members of the school staff and 12 of their relatives were also abducted.
Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation
In March 2021, armed assailants attacked the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Mando area of Kaduna, kidnapping about 30 students.
The gunmen attacked the school at 11:30 pm, when the students were about to go to bed.
Greenfield University Abduction
The Greenfield University kidnapping took place on April 20 2021. At least 20 students and 2 staff members were kidnapped in Kasarami village, Chikun LGA of Kaduna State, Nigeria, during an attack by suspected armed bandits at Greenfield University.
The students – both male and female – were abducted from their hostel while they were sleeping.
Tegina Islamiyya
On May 30, 2021, some gunmen on motorcycles entered Tegina town in Niger State. They broke into the Islamic school of Salihu Tanko Islamic School and kidnapped about 150 students.
Eyewitnesses said that the gunmen were shooting sporadically before taking the students away.
However, in a statement issued by the state government at that time, it said that two people were shot during the attack and one of them was confirmed dead, while the other was in a critical condition.
Yauri Federal College
On June 17, 2021, terrorists attacked the Federal Government College in Birnin Yauri and kidnapped about 80 students and teachers. Some students were injured in the gun battle between the abductors and the police.
An eyewitness said that the gunmen overpowered the policemen who were guarding the school and took Toyota Hilux cars from them to take the students away.
The attackers also shot many students who tried to escape.
Kuriga Pupil Abduction
On a Thursday morning in February 2024, gunmen struck at Kuriga Primary and Junior High School in Chikun Local Government Area, Kaduna State. They abducted nearly 300 students and a teacher, though the teacher managed to escape.
The teacher recounted that the attackers arrived during the school assembly. Around 187 secondary school students and 125 primary school students were taken.
They were led into the forest, but the teacher and about 25 other students were able to escape.
Governor Uba Sani urged the community to remain calm, assuring them that the government would do everything possible to secure the safe return of the remaining students.
Addressing Factors Fuelling Abductions
Dr. Kabiru Adamu, the Managing Director of Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited has identified four key factors enabling the repeated abductions.
The expert said easy movement of attackers, lack of anti-terrorism framework, ineffective response and communication gap contributed to the menace.
Speaking on Channels TV on Monday, Dr. Adamu emphasized that each enabler falls under the watch of a specific security agency, raising questions about accountability for their inability to address these issues.
He said, “There are several enablers but I will just mention the important ones. Number one is the perpetrators. We know the perpetrators, they are the bandits or terrorists. We still don’t have an anti-kidnap framework in Nigeria, it is sad. We talked about it for years but we still don’t have one.
“The second enabler is their ability to move; they came on motorbikes. From the intelligence we gathered from the villagers, they moved from a particular state in the north west across other states. So if there were capable intelligence, we could have prevented their movement. This enabler is the inability to prevent the movement of these persons on motorbikes.
“The next enabler is the response capability. Even if you were able move and arrive at the location, if the response capability was effective, it would have been able to stop them.
“You can talk about the fact that they still have access to petroleum to put in their bikes to travel up to 4, 5, 6 hundreds kilometers and of course after the incident, to move back to their locations.
“How about the communication? They still are able to communicate among themselves. Someone is controlling them and they communicate through most likely mobile phones.
“So these are in reality some of the enablers, I am sure you will be wondering what our security agencies are doing. For every enabler, I mentioned there is a security department that has a mandate to monitor that particular enabler.
“And that takes us back to my earlier point about accountability. Who is asking questions regarding the inability of these particular security departments to prevent those enablers?”