Release Obtained for A Hundred Kidnapped Nigerian Schoolchildren, yet Numerous Are Still Captive
The country's government have obtained the freedom of 100 abducted students captured by gunmen from a educational institution last month, according to a United Nations official and Nigerian press on Sunday. Nevertheless, the situation of another one hundred and sixty-five students and staff presumed to remain held captive stayed uncertain.
Background
During November, three hundred and fifteen individuals were abducted from St Mary’s co-educational boarding school in north-central a Nigerian state, as the nation was gripped by a wave of large-scale kidnappings similar to the infamous 2014 jihadist group kidnapping of schoolgirls in Chibok.
Some 50 managed to flee in the immediate aftermath, which left 265 believed to be under kidnappers' control.
The Handover
The 100 children are due to be handed over to Niger state officials this Monday, as per the source.
“They will be handed over to state authorities tomorrow,” the source told AFP.
Regional reports also confirmed that the liberation of the hostages had been secured, but did not provide details on if it was done through negotiation or military force, or about the whereabouts of the other students and staff.
The liberation of the students was verified to the press by an official representative Sunday Dare.
Response
“For a long time we were praying and waiting for their safe arrival, if this is confirmed then it is positive news,” said a representative, speaking for the local diocese of the Kontagora diocese which runs the school.
“However, we are not officially aware and have not received proper notification by the government.”
Wider Crisis
While hostage-taking for cash are prevalent in the country as a method for illegal actors to make quick cash, in a series of large-scale kidnappings in last month, scores of individuals were taken, placing an uncomfortable focus on Nigeria’s serious law and order crisis.
The nation confronts a long-running Islamist militant uprising in the northeastern region, while criminal groups carry out abductions and raid villages in the northwestern region, and clashes between agricultural and pastoral communities over scarce resources persist in the country’s centre.
Additionally, militant factions linked to secessionist agendas also are active in the nation's unsettled southeastern region.
The Chibok Shadow
Among the most prominent large-scale abductions that drew international attention was in 2014, when about 300 girls were taken from their boarding school in the north-eastern town of Chibok by the militant group.
Ten years on, Nigeria’s hostage-taking crisis has “become a systematic, revenue-generating industry” that generated approximately a significant sum between last year, according to a analysis by a Lagos-based consultancy.