Twenty-four Nigerian schoolgirls freed more than a week after abduction

Twenty-four Nigerian schoolgirls who were kidnapped from their boarding school in Kebbi State have been released more than a week after the attack, President Bola Tinubu has confirmed. The girls were taken on 17 November when armed men stormed the Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School, killing two staff members and abducting 25 students. One girl managed to escape shortly after the incident.

President Tinubu commended security forces for what he described as a swift response, although officials have not provided details about how the girls were freed or whether any negotiations took place. The president’s office said all the abducted students from the Kebbi attack were now accounted for. The incident is part of a wider surge in kidnappings across Nigeria, where schools have increasingly become targets for criminal gangs seeking ransom payments.

The country faced several major abductions last week alone. A Catholic boarding school in Niger State was attacked on Friday, with school authorities reporting that more than 250 children remain missing. Some officials, however, have questioned the accuracy of that figure, noting that the school has yet to provide a full register of students. Niger State governor Umar Bago told the BBC on Wednesday that 11 children from St Mary’s school had been found in a farm settlement and rescued by security forces, though he declined to share further information.

The Christian Association of Nigeria has described Friday’s mass abduction as one of the worst in the country’s history. Its chairman in Niger State, Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, criticised the government’s handling of the crisis, saying little meaningful progress had been made to rescue the missing children. Local police officials have also expressed uncertainty about the total number of those abducted.

Nigeria has struggled for years with widespread kidnappings. More than 1,500 children have been taken from schools since 2014, when Boko Haram militants abducted 276 girls from Chibok, an attack that drew global attention. Kidnappings for ransom have since become a major security challenge, particularly in the northern regions where criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, operate alongside jihadist groups.

In response to the latest incidents, President Tinubu cancelled a planned trip to the G20 summit in South Africa to focus on the crisis. He said additional security personnel would be deployed to vulnerable areas, adding that the Air Force would conduct continuous surveillance to help identify and disrupt armed groups responsible for the attacks.

International concern has also grown. UN education envoy Gordon Brown urged global support to help bring the abducted children home and to ensure that Nigerian schools become safe spaces for learning. He warned that without strong action, classrooms will continue to be exploited by criminals seeking profit.

Nigerian officials have stressed that kidnappers target people of all faiths, noting that the students abducted in Kebbi were Muslim. They said extremist groups often attack anyone who opposes their ideology, regardless of religious background.