130 Kidnapped Schoolchildren released
Nigerian authorities have announced the successful rescue of an additional 130 school children kidnapped by gunmen from a Catholic school in Niger State last November. This follows the earlier release of 100 children earlier this month bringing the total number of freed hostages to 230.
Sunday Dare, a Nigerian presidential spokesman, confirmed the development via a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, stating, “Another 130 abducted Niger State pupils released, none left in captivity.” However, a United Nations source revealed that all those taken may have already been released as many of the children managed to escape during the attack and returned home independently.
The process of accounting for all the children remains complicated due to the dispersed locations of their homes across rural Nigeria often requiring hours of travel by motorbike to reach their remote villages. The authorities have not disclosed who was responsible for kidnapping the children or the specific details of how their release was negotiated.
Kidnappings for ransom have become a common and lucrative crime in Nigeria. The recent spate of mass abductions in November which targeted various groups including Muslim schoolgirls, church worshippers, farmers, women and children has highlighted the country’s ongoing security challenges.
These incidents have drawn international attention amid a broader diplomatic debate. In the United States, President Donald Trump has alleged that Nigeria is experiencing mass killings of Christians amounting to a “genocide” and has threatened military intervention. Nigerian officials and independent analysts, however, reject such characterizations, which have been largely promoted by the Christian right in the US and Europe.
One of the earliest high-profile kidnappings was in 2014, when nearly 300 girls were abducted from a school in Chibok by the Boko Haram armed group. Over a decade later, Nigeria’s kidnap-for-ransom crisis has evolved into a structured industry, generating approximately $1.66 million between July 2024 and June 2025, according to SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based consultancy.
