What's Behind Nigeria’s DEADLIEST School Kidnappings? 300+ Abducted in Niger State

Asianet News English

More than 300 students and teachers have been kidnapped by gunmen from a school in Nigeria’s Niger State, marking one of the country’s largest-ever mass abductions. This troubling new incident highlights the ongoing crisis in Nigeria, where mass kidnappings by criminal gangs and militants have plagued schools for over a decade. From the Chibok girls’ abduction in 2014 to the recent raid at Kuriga High School, we break down the worst attacks. Also, find out why schools remain so vulnerable, who the key players are, and what’s being done to bring hostages home. #BringBackOurGirls

Transcript

00:00Nigerian gunmen have kidnapped more than 300 students and teachers from a school in north

00:08central Niger state in one of the country's largest mass abductions. Since Islamist militants

00:15kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls from Chibok town more than a decade ago, Nigeria has struggled

00:22with a series of mass kidnappings, mostly carried out by criminal gangs looking for ransom payments.

00:28Often, gunmen attack remote boarding schools where they know a lack of security presence

00:34will make for soft targets. Most victims are released after negotiations. Here are some

00:40of the country's worst mass kidnapping incidents.

00:50In April 2014, Boko Haram jihadists attacked a girls school in Chibok in northeast Borno

00:57state, the center of Nigeria's long-running Islamist insurgency that has killed more than 40,000

01:04people since 2009. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said he would sell off the girls, mostly

01:12Christians. The attack triggered the hashtag Bring Back Our Girls movement. Some of the

01:17girls escaped early on, others were released or rescued by security forces. Some returned

01:23with children they gave birth to in captivity. Dozens of the Chibok girls are still missing.

01:30The army rescued one of the girls as late as 2024. Militants led another kidnapping of more

01:36than 100 schoolgirls in Dapchi in nearby Yobi state in 2018.

01:44In the first major kidnapping in a year-long string of mass abductions, a criminal gang snatched 344

01:55pupils from a boys' boarding school in Kankara in Katsina state in December 2020. They were

02:03released a few days later. The kidnapping took place as then-President Muhammadu Buhari was

02:08visiting his home state Katsina. Awalan Daudawa, the bandit leader who carried out the raid,

02:14surrendered to authorities in an amnesty deal. He was later killed in fighting.

02:25In February 2021, a kidnap gang raided the Government Girls Science Secondary School in the remote

02:33Janga Bay village in North West Zamfara state, snatching 279 female students aged under 18 years old.

02:41Some of the girls said they were forced to walk for miles to the bandits' camp. After negotiations,

02:47they were released from captivity in forest hideouts.

02:50In July 2021, a criminal gang opened fire and overpowered security guards after storming the

03:04Bethel Baptist High School in North West Khadun Estate. They snatched around 120 pupils as they

03:11slept in their dormitories. Some of them escaped, while others were released in batches over months.

03:17By the time of the Bethel attack, around 1,000 schoolchildren had been kidnapped since the

03:23start of the year in different raids. Many were released after ransom payments. An envoy who

03:29delivered a ransom payment for the release of the Bethel children was himself kidnapped after he

03:34handed over the money.

03:35In one of the country's most high-profile kidnapping attacks, in March 2022, gunmen used explosives to

03:49blow up tracks and then opened fire and raided a train travelling from the capital Abuja to the

03:56north-western city of Kaduna. They snatched dozens of people from the train and killed eight more. The

04:02attack shocked Nigerians who had shifted to taking trains to avoid rural highways where kidnappings

04:09are common. The use of explosives made some experts suspect the kidnap gang worked with Islamist

04:15militants to carry out the attack. The last of the hostages were released months later after

04:20negotiations. Gunmen also attacked a train station in southern Nigeria in 2023, kidnapping about 30

04:28people and wounding others. Security forces later rescued them.

04:39In March 2024, students were just settling into their classes at Kuriga High School in Kaduna.

04:46When dozens of gunmen dressed in military uniforms rode on motorbikes into the school grounds,

04:52more than 100 school children were rounded up and kidnapped. Initially teachers had said 280 were

04:59snatched, though the military later the same month said it had rescued all 137 pupils who had been kidnapped.

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