Freedom Secured for A Hundred Taken Nigerian Pupils, however A Large Number Remain Held

The country's government have secured the release of one hundred abducted students seized by attackers from a educational institution the previous month, according to a source within the UN and Nigerian press on Sunday. Yet, the fate of an additional 165 individuals believed to remain held captive stayed unknown.

Context

In November, three hundred and fifteen students and staff were kidnapped from St Mary’s mixed boarding school in central Niger state, as the nation buckled under a series of large-scale kidnappings echoing the infamous 2014 jihadist group abduction of female students in Chibok.

Around fifty escaped soon after, resulting in 265 thought to be still held.

Freedom for Some

The one hundred children are set to be released to Niger state officials this Monday, according to the UN official.

“They are scheduled to be released to state authorities tomorrow,” the source stated to a news agency.

News outlets also reported that the release of the students had been achieved, though they lacked information on if it was achieved via dialogue or a security operation, or about the situation of the other students and staff.

The freeing of the 100 children was confirmed to the press by an official representative an official.

Response

“For a long time we were praying and waiting for their safe arrival, if it is true then it is a cheering development,” said a representative, speaking for the local diocese of the religious authority which manages the institution.

“Yet, we are not officially aware and have lacked official communication by the national authorities.”

Wider Crisis

While abductions for money are widespread in the nation as a means for criminals and armed groups to make quick cash, in a series of large-scale kidnappings in November, hundreds were abducted, putting an critical focus on Nigeria’s already grim law and order crisis.

The country is grappling with a long-running jihadist insurgency in the north-east, while criminal groups conduct abductions and plunder villages in the north-west, and conflicts between farmers and herders concerning scarce farmland continue in the country’s centre.

Furthermore, armed groups connected to secessionist agendas also are active in the country’s unsettled southeastern region.

The Chibok Shadow

Among the most prominent mass kidnappings that drew international attention was in 2014, when nearly three hundred female students were taken from their school in the northeastern town of Chibok by Boko Haram jihadists.

Ten years on, Nigeria’s hostage-taking problem has “become a systematic, profit-seeking enterprise” that raised approximately $1.66 million dollars (£1.24m) between a recent twelve-month period, stated in a analysis by a Nigerian consultancy.