THE November abduction of more than 300 children and staff from a Nigerian school has laid bare the country’s inability to protect rural communities from armed groups, with analysts pointing to systemic failures that allow insurgents to operate with impunity.
Gunmen attacked Saint Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State’s Agwara district, on November 21, making it the single largest school kidnapping in Nigeria to date. While 100 hostages were released on December 7, another 153 students and 11 staff members remain in captivity.
The attack forms part of a broader kidnapping crisis that has seen at least 816 pupils taken in 22 school attacks since January 2023, according to reporting by The New Humanitarian and Premium Times.
Security experts say the lack of public explanation about the kidnappers’ identity and continued freedom exemplifies a failing security system that prioritises ransom payments over intelligence gathering and prosecution.
Malik Samuel, senior researcher with the Good Governance Africa think tank, identified ransom payments as a key driver of continued mass abductions, writing in The New Humanitarian that such payments increase the likelihood of repeat attacks despite being illegal.
Yakubu Mohammed, writing in The New Humanitarian, reported that the government is believed to have paid N1 billion ($688,000) for the release of the 100 hostages, despite official policies against ransom payments.
The New Humanitarian’s investigation identified two jihadist groups operating from the abandoned Kainji Lake National Park: Ansaru, an al-Qaeda-aligned splinter group, and a Boko Haram franchise led by Abubakar Saidu, known as Sadiku.
Security analysts consulted by The New Humanitarian believe Sadiku’s group most likely conducted the attack. Vincent Foucher, a West African jihadism expert at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research, told The New Humanitarian that Sadiku appeared to be relocating his operations and needed cash to finance the move.
Mohammed documented how the kidnappers moved their captives through seven villages over two days without encountering police or security forces, despite army and air force bases located 150 kilometres away.
Witnesses told The New Humanitarian that approximately 60 armed men on motorbikes, led by a commander called “Baba,” raided the boarding school at 1 am. The operation lasted about an hour, with 50 students managing to escape in the confusion.
Released student accounts describe a two-day journey to the Kainji forest, during which the kidnappers stole vehicles and fuel from multiple villages. The hostages were separated upon arrival, with staff and older students blindfolded and taken to different locations.
One 15-year-old student reported that a kidnapper identified the group as Boko Haram, according to The New Humanitarian’s reporting.
For families still waiting, the ordeal continues. Monita Anthony, 26, remains separated from her 12-year-old daughter, Charity, one of those still held captive. Anthony’s husband died three days after the abduction from injuries sustained in an earlier motorcycle accident.
Another parent, Ayuba Emmanuel, has two daughters among those not yet released. A freed student told The New Humanitarian that one sister refused to eat while the other was ill during captivity.
Mohammed wrote in The New Humanitarian that the kidnapping reveals profound weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture, describing the country as underpoliced with a weak local administrative layer frequently intimidated by criminal networks.
Multiple insurgent groups and bandit gangs have become entrenched in Nigeria’s countryside, creating a multi-year crisis that the authorities appear unable to resolve.
Samuel told The New Humanitarian that violent actors have taken the lead with security forces playing catch-up, adding that instead of an effective strategy, authorities issue pronouncements and presidential directives after each major attack.
The National Park Service abandoned the Kainji reserve in 2021 due to security threats, effectively ceding the territory to armed groups that have since used it as a base for repeated attacks on surrounding communities.
