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Gunmen have seized over 300 students and teachers in what appears to be the biggest group abductions in modern Nigerian times, as stated by a religious organization on Saturday.

Growing Crisis in School Facilities

The early Friday raid on St Mary's co-educational school in Niger state happened just a short time after armed men attacked a high school in adjacent Kebbi state, seizing 25 female students.

Initial reports had indicated 227 individuals were taken, but updated figures surfaced after a comprehensive counting process established that 303 pupils and 12 teachers had been kidnapped.

The abducted pupils, ranging between eight and 18 years, constitute nearly half of the school's total student body of 629.

Official Response and Safety Actions

Local officials have announced that intelligence departments and law enforcement are presently conducting a comprehensive head count to determine the precise number of missing people.

In response to the increasing safety fears, the state government has mandated the closure of every schools in the state, with nearby states adopting similar precautionary steps.

Furthermore, the national education ministry has directed the provisional shutting of 47 residential high schools across the country.

President Bola Tinubu has postponed international commitments, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to focus on addressing the emergency.

Recent Security Events

The educational institution abductions constitute the most recent in a sequence of safety breaches that have rocked the nation, including an attack on a place of worship in the west of Nigeria where gunmen shot dead two individuals and seized numerous congregation members during a live-streamed service.

These events have taken place against the backdrop of international focus on Nigeria's safety situation.

Past Background

Nigeria continues to be traumatized by the legacy of the large-scale kidnapping of nearly 300 female students by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a decade ago, with several of those victims still unaccounted for.

Eyewitness Testimonies

In a disturbing recording circulated by Christian organizations, a frightened worker described hearing the sounds of motorcycles and vehicles before experiencing "forceful banging" on various entrances of the compound.

"Students were weeping," the staff member said, recounting her panic while searching for keys to the section where the crying was most intense.

The local Catholic authority stated that the "assailants acted aggressively and without interruption for nearly three hours, moving through sleeping quarters."

Public Reaction and Fears

At the same time, about 600km away on the periphery of Abuja, worried parents were collecting their students from schools following the closure directive.

One parent, a 40-year-old nurse, expressed her shock at the scale of the kidnapping, questioning how 300 students could be taken simultaneously.

She concluded that the "authorities is not doing enough to address the security crisis," and voiced approval for international intervention to "resolve this situation."

Continuing Safety Challenges

For a long time, heavily armed bandit groups have been carrying out murders and abductions for money in remote areas of northern and middle Nigeria, where state presence is minimal.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, bandit gangs demanding ransom payments often attack schools in countryside locations where protection is inadequate.

These gangs maintain camps in extensive woodland areas straddling several states in the west of Nigeria.

While these criminals have no political motives and are mainly motivated by monetary profit, their increasing cooperation with jihadist groups from the north-east has become a major cause of worry for authorities and security analysts alike.