Freed Nigerian schoolchildren to be reunited with families | Nigeria
The last group of 130 Nigerian schoolchildren kidnapped by the government on Sunday are expected to be reunited with their families in the central Niger state on Monday, ending a month-long ordeal that has sparked global concern.
Last month, unidentified gunmen abducted an estimated 215 schoolchildren and 12 teachers from St Mary’s Catholic school in the Papiri community in Niger state, which stretches from the capital Abuja westward to neighboring Benin.
Fifty children soon escaped and another 100 were released on 7 December.
“Another 130 kidnapped Niger state students have been released, none of them remain in captivity,” presidential spokesman Sunday Dare said on X on Sunday.
The last group of children was reportedly released near Nigeria’s border with Benin, but as with the previous release, there was no explanation as to how they gained their freedom or which group was behind the kidnapping. Other details also remain unclear.
Kidnappings for ransom represent one aspect of Nigeria’s multifaceted security crises. Armed bandit gangs roam the vast countryside in the north, while jihadists operate with external support from surrounding regions in the Sahel. The abundance of non-state actors has left rural areas particularly vulnerable, and Nigeria’s ill-equipped security agencies continue to expand.
The Papiri incident was the second mass kidnapping in the West African country within a week and the second in four years in Niger state. May 2021 kidnapping 135 students of an Islamic theological school. The most high-profile mass kidnapping was the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria in 2014; This spurred a global campaign backed by dozens of celebrities including Michelle Obama and Elton John.
According to Lagos-based geopolitical consultancy SBM Intelligence, there were at least 4,722 kidnapping victims across Nigeria between July 2024 and June 2025; At least 762 people were killed and a total of approximately $1.66 million was paid in ransom.
The deteriorating security situation has led US president Donald Trump to threaten military action against Nigeria. The Trump administration has identified Nigeria as a country of particular concern. He referred to “Christian genocide,” a framework that Abuja has repeatedly rejected as an oversimplification of a complex crisis.
Reuters contributed to this report
