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Gunmen have kidnapped over 300 schoolchildren and staff in one of the biggest group abductions in recent Nigerian history, according to a Christian organization on the weekend.

Growing Crisis in School Facilities

The early Friday raid on St Mary's co-educational school in western Nigeria occurred just a short time after gunmen attacked a high school in adjacent Kebbi state, abducting 25 female students.

Initial accounts had suggested 227 individuals were taken, but updated numbers emerged after a detailed verification exercise established that 303 pupils and 12 educators had been kidnapped.

The kidnapped students, ranging between eight and 18 years, represent nearly half of the school's overall student body of 629.

Official Response and Safety Actions

State authorities have confirmed that intelligence agencies and law enforcement are presently conducting a thorough census to determine the precise number of abducted people.

In response to the increasing security fears, the local authorities has mandated the shutting of every schools in the region, with neighboring states adopting comparable precautionary steps.

Additionally, the national education department has directed the temporary closure of 47 residential high schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has called off overseas engagements, including attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to focus on managing the emergency.

Latest Security Events

The educational institution kidnappings constitute the most recent in a sequence of safety incidents that have shaken the nation, including an attack on a church in the west of Nigeria where gunmen killed two individuals and abducted dozens congregation members during a online broadcast service.

These events have occurred against the background of international focus on Nigeria's safety situation.

Historical Background

Nigeria remains traumatized by the memory of the mass abduction of nearly 300 female students by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a decade ago, with some of those girls still missing.

Firsthand Accounts

In a disturbing recording shared by Christian groups, a frightened employee described hearing the noise of motorcycles and cars before experiencing "forceful banging" on multiple gates of the school premises.

"Students were screaming," the staff member stated, describing her fear while searching for keys to the section where the screaming was loudest.

The regional Catholic authority stated that the "assailants acted aggressively and without interruption for nearly three hours, searching dormitories."

Public Response and Concerns

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the periphery of Abuja, concerned guardians were picking up their students from educational institutions following the closure order.

One parent, a 40-year-old nurse, voiced her disbelief at the scale of the kidnapping, asking how 300 students could be taken simultaneously.

She stated that the "authorities is not doing enough to curb the security crisis," and voiced approval for external intervention to "resolve this situation."

Continuing Safety Issues

For years, well-equipped criminal gangs have been conducting killings and kidnappings for money in rural areas of northern and middle Nigeria, where government control is minimal.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the latest incidents, bandit gangs seeking ransom payments frequently target schools in rural areas where security is weak.

These groups maintain bases in vast woodland areas spanning several states in the west of Nigeria.

While these bandits have no political motives and are primarily motivated by monetary profit, their increasing cooperation with extremist groups from the northeastern region has become a major cause of worry for authorities and experts alike.