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Gunmen have abducted over 300 students and teachers in what appears to be the most significant group abductions in recent Nigerian times, as stated by a Christian organization on the weekend.

Growing Emergency in Educational Facilities

The Friday morning attack on St Mary's co-educational school in Niger state occurred just a short time after armed men stormed a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, seizing 25 female students.

Initial reports had suggested 227 victims were taken, but revised numbers emerged after a comprehensive verification exercise established that 303 pupils and 12 teachers had been kidnapped.

The abducted children, ranging between eight and 18 years, account for nearly half of the school's total student body of 629.

Official Reaction and Security Measures

Local authorities have confirmed that intelligence departments and police are currently performing a thorough census to establish the exact number of missing people.

In response to the growing security concerns, the local authorities has directed the closure of all schools in the region, with nearby states following comparable preventive steps.

Additionally, the national education ministry has ordered the provisional shutting of 47 residential high schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has called off overseas engagements, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to focus on handling the crisis.

Latest Violent Events

The educational institution kidnappings constitute the most recent in a sequence of security incidents that have shaken the country, including an assault on a place of worship in the west of Nigeria where assailants shot dead two people and abducted numerous congregation members during a live-streamed service.

These events have occurred against the backdrop of global attention on Nigeria's safety situation.

Historical Background

Nigeria continues to be traumatized by the memory of the mass abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a decade ago, with several of those girls still missing.

Eyewitness Testimonies

In a concerning recording circulated by Christian groups, a frightened employee recounted hearing the sounds of motorcycles and cars before experiencing "violent banging" on multiple entrances of the compound.

"Children were crying," the witness stated, recounting her terror while looking for access to the area where the screaming was most intense.

The local Catholic authority confirmed that the "assailants operated aggressively and without interruption for almost three hours, searching sleeping quarters."

Citizen Reaction and Fears

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, concerned guardians were picking up their students from educational institutions following the closure order.

One mother, a 40-year-old nurse, expressed her disbelief at the magnitude of the kidnapping, questioning how 300 students could be taken at once.

She stated that the "government is failing to act to combat insecurity," and voiced approval for international assistance to "salvage this situation."

Ongoing Safety Issues

For years, well-equipped bandit groups have been carrying out murders and kidnappings for ransom in remote areas of northwest and middle Nigeria, where government control is minimal.

While no group has taken credit for the recent attacks, criminal groups demanding ransom payments frequently attack schools in countryside locations where protection is weak.

These groups maintain camps in vast woodland areas straddling multiple states in western Nigeria.

While these criminals have no political motives and are primarily driven by monetary profit, their increasing cooperation with extremist groups from the northeastern region has become a significant cause of worry for officials and experts alike.