More than 300 girls and teachers kidnapped from school in Nigeria 

Please pray – in another kidnapping incident in Nigeria, more than 300 girls and teachers have been taken from a school in Niger State.

More than 300 schoolgirls and 12 teachers have been taken from a school in Niger, north west Nigeria, in one of the largest ever mass abductions in the country. 

The incident happened in the early hours of Friday (21 November) at St Mary’s, a school in the Papiri community in Agwara Local Government Area (LGA). The number taken includes 88 students who were captured as they tried to escape. However, 50 of those taken have since managed to escape over the weekend. It’s believed that 253 students and teachers remain held. St Mary’s is a Catholic school, though it is not yet known what percentage of those taken are Christians.  

Escalation in abductions  

In response to this latest kidnapping, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has ordered the hiring of 30,000 more police officers, as well as the removal of all officers from VIP protection services to focus on core duties, especially in remote areas prone to attacks. The government has instructed the closure of nearly 50 federal colleges, and public schools in some states have been shut.  

Whilst kidnappings for ransom have commonly been used to terrorise and impoverish communities, former Minister of Information, Jerry Gana, believes that the sudden escalation in abductions could be because armed groups want to use children as ‘human shields’ following the recent increase in global attention paid to violence against Christians in Nigeria. 

According to Open Doors local sources and partners on the ground, people have been warned to not travel in groups. That makes them more vulnerable to kidnapping, which they expect to only increase in the coming weeks.  

Thousands of children unschooled  

The apparent failure of the government to protect civilians has widespread effects, with more than 10,000 schools closed in northern Nigeria due to the current insecurity, exposing millions of children to illiteracy, early marriage and poverty. This vulnerability makes it easier for Islamist militant groups to recruit them, worsening the spiral of violence and oppression.  

“We are deeply saddened by these latest kidnappings in northern Nigeria,” says Jo Newhouse*, Open Doors spokesperson for the work in sub-Saharan Africa. “We are immediately taken back to the Chibok girls kidnapping in 2014, of which many girls – now women – are still in captivity. We urge the Nigerian government to do everything in its power to safely return these student and teachers to their families, and ensure that schools are protected from such attacks. Closing schools are a short-term solution and all children should be free and safe to attend school and receive an education.”  

How can you help? 

Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support for our persecuted family in Nigeria and throughout sub-Saharan Africa. As well as praying yourself, could you also encourage your church or house group to pray, too? If you’ve yet to already, please sign the Arise Africa petition and share it with others. And with the latest World Watch List due out in January, please invite your MP to the Parliamentary launch, so they can hear first-hand the suffering facing Christians in sub-Saharan African and worldwide and what they can do to help. Thank you! 

*Name changed for security reasons