Freedom Secured for 100 Kidnapped Nigerian Students, however Many Are Still Held
The country's government have obtained the freedom of one hundred abducted schoolchildren taken by attackers from a religious school the previous month, according to a source within the UN and local media on Sunday. Nevertheless, the whereabouts of a further 165 individuals presumed to still be held captive remained uncertain.
Background
Last month, 315 students and staff were kidnapped from St Mary’s co-educational residential school in north-central Niger state, as the nation was gripped by a series of mass abductions echoing the infamous 2014 Boko Haram abduction of female students in Chibok.
Approximately fifty managed to flee shortly afterward, which left two hundred and sixty-five believed to be in captivity.
The Handover
The 100 students are due to be transferred to state authorities on Monday, according to the United Nations source.
“They will be released to state authorities on Monday,” the source informed a news agency.
Regional reports also stated that the freeing of the students had been obtained, without offering details on if it was the result of negotiation or military force, nor on the situation of the other individuals.
The release of the youngsters was announced to the press by a government spokesperson an official.
Statements
“We have been hoping and praying for their safe arrival, if it is true then it is a cheering development,” said a spokesman, representing the local diocese of the Kontagora diocese which manages the institution.
“However, we are not officially aware and have not been duly notified by the government.”
Broader Context
Though abductions for money are prevalent in the country as a means for criminals and armed groups to make quick cash, in a spate of mass abductions in last month, hundreds were abducted, placing an uncomfortable focus on Nigeria’s serious law and order crisis.
The country faces a long-running Islamist militant uprising in the north-east, while armed bandit gangs carry out abductions and loot villages in the northwestern region, and disputes between farmers and herders over scarce resources continue in the country’s centre.
On a smaller scale, militant factions associated with secessionist agendas also haunt the nation's volatile south-east.
Historical Precedent
A first large-scale abductions that garnered international attention was in 2014, when about three hundred schoolgirls were taken from their boarding school in the north-eastern town of Chibok by insurgents.
Now, the country's hostage-taking crisis has “consolidated into a organized, revenue-generating enterprise” that raised around a significant sum between a recent twelve-month period, stated in a recent report by a Nigerian research firm.
