🔗 Share this article Release Achieved for One Hundred Abducted Nigerian Schoolchildren, however Many Remain in Captivity Nigerian authorities have secured the release of one hundred kidnapped pupils taken by attackers from a educational institution the previous month, per reports from a UN source and local media on Sunday. Nevertheless, the fate of another one hundred and sixty-five hostages thought to continue being in captivity remained uncertain. Context Last month, three hundred and fifteen individuals were abducted from St Mary’s co-educational boarding school in central a Nigerian state, as the country buckled under a wave of large-scale kidnappings similar to the notorious 2014 jihadist group kidnapping of female students in a town in north-east Nigeria. Around fifty escaped in the immediate aftermath, which left 265 presumed under kidnappers' control. The Handover The one hundred students are set to be transferred to Niger state officials this Monday, according to the source. “They are going to be released to the government tomorrow,” the individual informed AFP. News outlets also stated that the release of 100 children had been obtained, without offering information on if it was achieved via dialogue or armed intervention, nor on the fate of the still-missing students and staff. The freeing of the youngsters was announced to the press by a government spokesperson Sunday Dare. Statements “We've been praying and waiting for their release, if it is true then it is positive event,” said a representative, speaking for the local diocese of the Kontagora diocese which manages the institution. “However, we are without official confirmation and have lacked official communication by the federal government.” Security Situation While abductions for money are common in the country as a way for gangs and militants to fund their activities, in a wave of large-scale kidnappings in November, scores of individuals were abducted, casting an uncomfortable focus on Nigeria’s deteriorating state of safety. The country is grappling with a years-long jihadist insurgency in the northeastern region, while armed bandit gangs perpetrate abductions and plunder villages in the north-west, and clashes between agricultural and pastoral communities over diminishing resources persist in the country’s centre. Additionally, armed groups linked to secessionist agendas also are active in the nation's unsettled south-east. A Dark Legacy One of the earliest large-scale abductions that garnered global concern was in 2014, when about three hundred female students were taken from their school in the northeastern town of Chibok by Boko Haram jihadists. Ten years on, Nigeria’s hostage-taking crisis has “evolved into a systematic, revenue-generating business” that raised about a significant sum between July 2024 and June 2025, as per a analysis by a Lagos-based consultancy.