Less than a week after the abduction of 25 female students in Kebbi State, another group of armed bandits has kidnapped an unspecified number of students from a boarding school in Niger State.
The resurgence of school kidnappings in recent weeks has left many Nigerians worried, especially after a brief period of relative calm in which such attacks had reduced significantly.
The last major mass abduction occurred on 9 March 2024, when 286 students from a Tsangaya school in Sokoto State were kidnapped by armed bandits.
Security analyst Malam Kabiru Adamu, CEO of Beacon Security & Intelligence Limited, highlighted three key factors responsible for the renewed wave of attacks:
1. Poor Security Around Schools
According to him, the main reason bandits have returned to targeting schools is that they have realized security presence around these institutions has weakened. Security agencies have shifted attention to other parts of the country, leaving many schools vulnerable.
2. Ransom Payments
He explained that kidnappers consider school abductions lucrative because government officials often succumb to pressure and pay huge ransoms to avoid global embarrassment. “No leader wants news of mass student abductions to dominate international headlines,” he said.
3. Global Attention
Adamu added that bandits deliberately attack schools to attract media coverage and international attention. “Attacking students gives them the spotlight they seek,” he noted.
He further proposed two major solutions to the crisis:
1. Eliminating the Bandits
Adamu stressed that only permanent elimination of the armed groups will provide lasting security. Any other measure, he said, is temporary.
2. Strengthening School Security
He emphasized the need to protect schools through community collaboration and stronger security deployment. He referenced the Safe School Initiative, launched in Nigeria by former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. “If it had been fully implemented, the situation would have improved,” he said.
Nigerians are now questioning the status of the program, especially after the government announced in 2024 that it had allocated ₦112 billion to boost school security nationwide.
The government had promised to use the initiative to secure 50% of schools considered to be at high risk between 2023 and 2026.
The Safe School Initiative, first launched in 2014 after the Chibok girls’ abduction, was designed to reinforce security and provide long-term protection for schools across the country.
“Nearly 11 years later, implementation remains poor,” Adamu lamented. He added that Nigeria also signed a global school protection framework adopted by about 200 countries, and even established a national policy in 2021, yet “these policies have not been executed effectively due to administrative gaps.”