A Nigerian father has spoken out in anguish after witnessing gunmen abduct his son along with over 300 students and staff from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri village, Niger State, on Friday. The father, whom we identify as Theo for safety, recounted how he was jolted awake by the chaos of armed assailants on motorcycles herding children like flocks. “Some fell, and the men would kick them and command them to rise,” he described, expressing his powerlessness to intervene despite his desperate urge to help. He called the police, but security forces arrived too late to prevent the mass kidnapping, one of the largest such incidents in Nigeria this year.
The attack took place in northern Nigeria’s Niger State, a region plagued by repeated school kidnappings linked to criminal gangs and extremist groups. The initial count of abducted students was 215, but later verification put the number at 303 students and 12 educators taken hostage. Authorities confirmed that the school had reopened without proper state government approval despite rising security intelligence alerts. The incident came amidst heightened insecurity in Nigeria, prompting the government to close all educational institutions in Niger State pending security reviews. President Bola Tinubu canceled his planned attendance at the G20 summit in South Africa to focus on the crisis.
Kidnappings of schoolchildren have become a commercialized criminal enterprise in Nigeria, causing widespread fear among communities and threatening serious disruption to the education system. Experts warn that such incidents deepen parental distrust in sending children to school and may exacerbate the collapse of Northern Nigeria’s education infrastructure, which was already fragile due to past Boko Haram insurgencies and the pandemic-related school closures. According to UNICEF figures, one in three Nigerian children was out of school in 2022, a situation worsened by ongoing insecurity.
Apart from the father’s poignant testimony, eyewitnesses describe seeing the attackers on about 50 motorbikes during the raid, forcibly rounding up children at gunpoint. Some children managed to escape in subsequent chaos, offering brief moments of relief for parents like Lucas whose young son returned safely. However, the trauma remains widespread among families left waiting anxiously for the safe release of their loved ones. The Nigerian government and security forces continue extensive search operations in surrounding forests to track down the kidnappers and rescue the victims.
This tragic event underscores the urgent need for enhanced security protocols around schools, improved intelligence sharing, and community vigilance to prevent future abductions. It also calls for stronger governmental oversight of school reopenings amid ongoing threats. The international community, educators, and security experts emphasize coordinated efforts to protect children’s right to education and safety in Nigeria. Meanwhile, families endure the heart-wrenching wait for news of their kidnapped children’s fate as authorities work towards a resolution.
