Armed assailants have attacked a secondary school in northwest Nigeria, abducting 25 schoolgirls and injuring a staff member, as reported by the authorities.
The incident occurred at Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi state, at approximately 4:00 am local time on Monday, with the attackers using advanced weaponry. Engaging in a gunfire exchange with on-duty police officers, the assailants breached the school’s perimeter, seized twenty-five students from their dormitory, and vanished to an undisclosed location, according to police statements.
During the assault, the school’s deputy head was fatally shot, and a security guard sustained gunshot wounds, as documented in a report submitted to the UN.
Law enforcement has mobilized tactical units, the military, and local vigilantes to search bandit routes and nearby forests in pursuit of the missing girls and the perpetrators, known locally as bandits.
Since the emergence of Boko Haram in 2009, Nigeria has grappled with rampant armed violence, particularly in the northeast region, leading to a persistent issue of school abductions in the northern areas.
Notably, the abduction of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state in 2014 garnered international attention, fueling the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Despite efforts, nearly a hundred girls remain unaccounted for to date.
In a similar vein, over 100 students and staff members were kidnapped from a government college in Kebbi state in June 2021, with some victims released over a two-year span following ransom payments, while others were subjected to forced marriages or returned with infants.
Just a month later, gunmen abducted 140 pupils from Bethel Baptist School in Kaduna state. The abducted pupils were gradually released as ransom demands were met in subsequent months.
According to a report by Save the Children, a concerning total of over 1,680 pupils were abducted from Nigerian schools between early 2014 and the conclusion of 2022, underscoring the severity of the ongoing crisis.