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Armed attackers have seized more than 300 pupils and educators in what is considered the largest collective seizures in modern Nigerian experience, as stated by a religious organization on the weekend.

Growing Crisis in Educational Institutions

The Friday morning assault on St Mary's co-educational school in Niger state came just a short time after gunmen attacked a high school in adjacent Kebbi state, seizing 25 female students.

Initial accounts had stated 227 individuals were seized, but new numbers surfaced after a thorough verification exercise established that 303 pupils and 12 teachers had been kidnapped.

The taken children, aged between eight and 18 years, account for nearly 50 percent of the school's overall enrollment of 629.

Government Response and Security Actions

Local authorities have announced that intelligence departments and law enforcement are presently conducting a comprehensive assessment to determine the exact number of abducted individuals.

In reaction to the increasing safety fears, the state government has directed the shutting of every schools in the region, with nearby states following similar precautionary measures.

Furthermore, the federal education ministry has directed the provisional shutting of 47 boarding secondary schools across the country.

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

Recent Security Incidents

The school abductions represent the latest in a sequence of security incidents that have shaken the country, including an attack on a place of worship in the west of Nigeria where assailants killed two people and seized dozens congregation members during a online broadcast service.

These events have taken place against the backdrop of global attention on Nigeria's security situation.

Historical Background

Nigeria remains scarred by the legacy of the mass kidnapping of almost 300 schoolgirls by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a ten years ago, with some of those victims still unaccounted for.

Eyewitness Testimonies

In a concerning recording shared by Christian organizations, a distraught worker recounted hearing the noise of motorcycles and vehicles before hearing "violent banging" on multiple entrances of the compound.

"Students were screaming," the staff member reported, recounting her fear while searching for access to the section where the screaming was most intense.

The local Catholic diocese confirmed that the "assailants operated violently and without interruption for nearly three hours, searching dormitories."

Public Reaction and Fears

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

One mother, a 40-year-old nurse, expressed her shock at the scale of the abduction, questioning how 300 children could be taken simultaneously.

She concluded that the "authorities is failing to act to combat the security crisis," and expressed support for external assistance to "salvage this situation."

Ongoing Safety Issues

For a long time, heavily armed criminal gangs have been carrying out murders and kidnappings for money in remote areas of northern and middle Nigeria, where government control is limited.

While nobody has taken credit for the recent attacks, criminal groups seeking financial compensation frequently target schools in rural areas where protection is inadequate.

These groups maintain camps in extensive forest areas spanning multiple states in the west of Nigeria.

While these bandits have no ideological leanings and are primarily driven by monetary profit, their growing cooperation with extremist groups from the north-east has become a major cause of worry for officials and experts alike.