Release Secured for 100 Kidnapped Nigerian Schoolchildren, yet Many Continue to Be in Captivity
Nigerian authorities have ensured the liberation of 100 seized students seized by attackers from a Catholic school last month, per reports from a United Nations official and Nigerian press on Sunday. Yet, the fate of a further 165 hostages presumed to remain held captive was unknown.
The Incident
During November, three hundred and fifteen individuals were taken from St Mary’s mixed residential school in central Niger state, as the nation faced a surge of large-scale kidnappings similar to the well-known 2014 Boko Haram abduction of female students in Chibok.
Approximately fifty escaped shortly afterward, resulting in 265 presumed under kidnappers' control.
Freedom for Some
The 100 children are set to be handed over to Niger state officials this Monday, according to the United Nations source.
“They are going to be transferred to the government on Monday,” the official told AFP.
Regional reports also reported that the freeing of the hostages had been achieved, though they lacked specifics on whether it was achieved via dialogue or military force, or about the situation of the other students and staff.
The release of the students was confirmed to AFP by a government spokesperson Sunday Dare.
Statements
“We have been praying and waiting for their return, should this be accurate then it is positive news,” said a spokesman, representing the local diocese of the religious authority which runs the institution.
“Yet, we are not officially aware and have not been duly notified by the federal government.”
Broader Context
While hostage-taking for cash are common in the nation as a way for gangs and militants to make quick cash, in a series of mass abductions in November, scores of individuals were seized, casting an critical attention on Nigeria’s deteriorating law and order crisis.
The nation faces a years-long Islamist militant uprising in the north-east, while armed bandit gangs carry out kidnappings and raid villages in the northwestern region, and conflicts between farmers and herders regarding scarce resources occur in the country’s centre.
On a smaller scale, armed groups connected to separatist movements also haunt the nation's unsettled south-east.
The Chibok Shadow
Among the first mass kidnappings that garnered worldwide outrage was in 2014, when about three hundred schoolgirls were abducted from their boarding school in the north-eastern town of Chibok by the militant group.
Ten years on, Nigeria’s hostage-taking problem has “become a systematic, revenue-generating business” that raised around $$1.66m (£1.24m) between a recent twelve-month period, stated in a analysis by a Nigerian consultancy.
