In a chilling repeat of a now-familiar tragedy, Nigeria witnessed another mass school kidnapping last week when armed attackers stormed St. Mary's Catholic School in central Niger State. The incident has drawn international attention and prompted threats of military intervention from former US President Donald Trump.
The St. Mary's School Attack
According to eyewitness accounts and official statements, gunmen sprayed bullets into the air before forcing 303 students and 12 teachers and staff into the nearby forest at gunpoint. The attack left behind empty lockers and scattered personal belongings in the dormitories, painting a haunting picture of the sudden disruption.
By Sunday, some hope emerged as 50 students had managed to escape and were reunited with their parents, according to Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, the Niger State chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria. However, the situation remains dire for those still missing, including 39 nursery-school students according to a list published by the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora.
A Decade-Long Crisis
The mass kidnapping phenomenon in Nigeria first captured global attention over a decade ago when 276 high-school students were abducted from Chibok in 2014, sparking the viral #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Despite international outcry, the kidnappings have continued unabated.
Recent years have seen multiple large-scale abductions:
- In March 2023, more than 280 schoolchildren were taken in Kuriga
- In 2021, gunmen kidnapped 317 girls from a boarding school in Jangebe
- At the end of 2020, 344 boys were taken from a school in Katsina
Since 2014, Amnesty International documents at least 17 mass abduction cases involving 1,700 children seized from their schools, fueling a lucrative kidnapping-for-ransom industry.
International Response and Complex Realities
The situation took a diplomatic turn when former President Trump threatened to send the U.S. military into Nigeria guns-a-blazing in response to what he characterized as mass slaughters of Christians. This prompted urgent meetings between Nigerian and US officials.
However, the reality on ground is more complex than religious persecution. Earlier last week, attackers abducted 25 students—largely Muslims—from a school in Kebbi State, according to police reports. Nigeria's population of about 240 million people is roughly divided between Muslims concentrated in the north and Christians generally in the south.
The perpetrators vary by region:
- Extremist groups like Boko Haram operate in the northeast
- Bandits seeking ransom payments dominate the northwest
- Central regions see conflicts between Christian farmers and Muslim cattle herdsmen over dwindling resources
More than 12,000 Nigerians have died since 2010 in clashes between nomadic cattle-herders and settled farmers, according to conflict-monitoring group ACLED.
Government Response and Growing Frustration
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu postponed a trip to the Group of 20 summit in South Africa to address the kidnapping and security crises. Last week, Nigeria's national security team met with US officials from Congress, the White House, State Department, and Defense Department in Washington.
The Nigerian delegation refuted allegations of genocide, emphasizing that violent attacks affect families across religious and ethnic lines. The US affirmed its readiness to deepen security cooperation with Nigeria.
Yet after more than a decade of mass abductions, many Nigerians express frustration with the government's lack of progress. Overall, more than 100,000 Nigerians have died in political and religious violence since 2011, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The educational impact has been devastating. UNICEF reports the number of children out of school in Nigeria has risen to around 18.3 million, with fear of attacks preventing many from attending classes.
Adewole Adebayo, a former Nigerian presidential candidate, summarized the sentiment: What is happening in Nigeria is that Christians are being killed, but other non-Christians are being killed as well. The government has a problem of general incompetence across the board.
