|
Listen to article
|
Fresh assaults on schools last week, including two major abductions in Niger and Kebbi states, have revived painful memories of earlier tragedies and renewed questions about the safety of children in parts of Nigeria, particularly the North.
On Friday, gunmen seized 303 students from a Catholic school in Niger State.
The attack came only five days after 25 students were abducted in Kebbi State.
These incidents followed a pattern that has continued since April 2014, when Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from Chibok and dragged the world’s attention to the vulnerability of Nigerian schools.
According to Save the Children International and UNICEF, about 70 attacks on schools occurred between April 2014 and December 2022, with more than 1,680 students abducted.
Read Also: President Tinubu In Closed-Door Meeting With Service Chiefs
Over 180 children, according to the bodies, were killed, 90 injured, and more than 90 remain missing. About 60 school staff members, they said, were also kidnapped in the same period.
Findings by Sunday Vanguard indicate that between January 2023 and November 2025, Nigeria recorded another 22 attacks on educational institutions, with 816 students kidnapped.
These figures represent only verified incidents reported by police and eyewitnesses.
Many more, especially in remote communities in Niger, Zamfara, Sokoto and Katsina, are believed to have gone unreported.
If those cases were included, the total number of incidents would likely exceed 92.
Boko Haram fighters stormed a local school at night, overpowered guards and carted away 276 girls. Some escaped by jumping from the vehicles, but most were taken into remote forest camps.
Years later, many have returned through rescue operations or negotiated releases, yet UNICEF reports that about 90 are still missing.
Rather than deter future attacks, Chibok opened the way for an escalating crisis.
As Boko Haram’s power shifted, criminal groups in the North-West turned mass abduction into a lucrative business.
Kidnapping students became a reliable source of income, and communities across Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger and Kebbi states began to experience recurring assaults.
UNICEF’s monitoring reports show that only 37 percent of schools across ten high-risk states have even basic early-warning systems.
Human Rights Watch, for its part, described the situation as one sustained by impunity, saying bandit groups now attack schools with little fear of consequences.
