In the early hours of November 21, 2025, the quiet of St. Mary’s Catholic School in Agwara, Niger State, Nigeria, was shattered by the roar of motorcycles and pick-up trucks. Gunmen stormed the boarding school between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m., breaking into hostels where boys and girls, aged 10 to 18, slept. What followed was the largest school abduction Nigeria has seen in years: 303 children and 12 teachers were forcibly taken, their fates thrust into uncertainty.
According to the Associated Press, the final tally of kidnapped students was only confirmed after a meticulous verification exercise. Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Niger state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), stated, “The total number of kidnapped children was determined after a verification exercise and a final census was carried out.” The victims included both male and female students, and the shock of the incident reverberated across Nigeria and beyond.
This brazen attack was not an isolated event. Just days earlier, on November 17, gunmen had abducted 25 schoolgirls from a boarding school in Maga, Kebbi State, about 170 kilometers away. At least one staff member was killed in that raid. The same day, a church in Kwara State was attacked, resulting in the deaths of two people and the abduction of 38 worshippers. The kidnappers, according to the Associated Press, demanded a ransom of 100 million naira (approximately $69,000) for each person.
The attack at St. Mary’s School was particularly chilling, not only for its scale but for the methodical way it was carried out. The BBC reported that the gunmen invaded the campus, broke into sleeping quarters, and forcibly removed children before escaping into remote terrain. Local residents told journalists that only local security arrangements were in place, despite prior government intelligence warnings about heightened threats. There were no official police or government forces securing the school at the time.
In the immediate aftermath, chaos and fear gripped the community. Yet, amid the despair, there was a glimmer of hope: fifty children managed to escape captivity on Friday and Saturday, November 22 and 23, and were reunited with their families. Still, 253 children and all 12 teachers remained in the hands of their abductors. The Nigerian government responded by deploying tactical squads and local hunters to join a military-led search and rescue operation, as reported by Al Jazeera.
The incident reignited painful memories of past mass abductions in Nigeria. The 2014 Chibok attack, in which Boko Haram militants seized 276 schoolgirls, remains seared into the national consciousness. More than 90 of those girls are still missing, even after global campaigns and years of search efforts. Since that night in Chibok, at least 1,799 students have been abducted in a dozen major incidents, according to a tally by the Associated Press. Most of the children have been released, often after ransom payments, but some have never returned home.
Who is behind these attacks? No group has claimed responsibility for the St. Mary’s abduction, and, as Bulama Bukarti, a security analyst and Nigerian human rights lawyer, explained to Al Jazeera, “These gangs do normally keep children in captivity for weeks, sometimes months, and extort ransoms from either their families or from the government. These ransoms can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars before releasing them.”
While the specter of Boko Haram and ISIL looms over Nigeria, experts and local authorities believe that most recent kidnappings are motivated by profit rather than religious ideology. The attacks are typically carried out by amorphous armed bandit groups, especially in the northwest and north-central regions. The Pew Research Center estimates that as of 2020, Muslims made up 56.1 percent of Nigeria's population, while Christians accounted for 43.4 percent. Both communities have suffered at the hands of these criminal gangs.
The targeting of Christian institutions has drawn international attention, especially from U.S. officials. Former President Donald Trump called Nigeria a "country of particular concern" and threatened to cut aid or even intervene militarily, claiming that Christians are facing genocide. Pope Leo XIV echoed the global outcry, declaring, “I make a heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of the hostages and urge the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their release.”
However, the Nigerian government has consistently denied that Christians are being systematically persecuted. Officials attribute much of the violence to local farmer-herdsmen conflicts and banditry, rather than religious animus. Christian groups in Nigeria have also rejected the assertion that faith is the sole reason behind the attacks, warning that foreign actors are exploiting domestic crises for their own agendas.
In response to the latest abductions, Nigeria’s federal government took drastic measures. President Bola Tinubu canceled his trip to the Group of 20 summit in South Africa to address the crisis. He ordered the immediate closure of 47 colleges nationwide and all schools in Niger State. The BBC reported that police officers previously assigned to VIP protection have been redeployed to focus on core duties, particularly in remote areas vulnerable to attacks. Tinubu also announced the hiring of 30,000 additional police officers, with the goal of bolstering security in the country’s most troubled regions.
Despite these moves, the scale of the problem remains daunting. According to UNICEF, only 37 percent of schools across ten states have early warning systems in place to identify threats like school attacks. In a 2023 report, the organization found that just nine out of 21 minimum safety standards were being substantially met, with an overall achievement rate of 42 percent. “The development of early warning systems and the fortification of violence prevention measures en route to and from school demand attention,” the report concluded.
For many Nigerians, the spate of school abductions is more than a security crisis—it’s a direct assault on the nation’s future. As Bukarti put it, “It is very unfortunate because this indicates that the Nigerian education system is under attack.” The closure of hundreds of schools in Niger State alone means that countless children’s education has been interrupted, compounding the trauma of violence with the loss of opportunity.
The latest abductions have also highlighted the limitations of Nigeria’s strategy to combat ransom kidnappings. In 2022, the government criminalized ransom payments in an effort to choke off the gangs’ revenue streams. Yet, as the BBC noted, this move has had little effect. The kidnappers continue to operate with impunity, and families are often left with impossible choices.
The events of November 2025 are a stark reminder of the ongoing dangers facing Nigeria’s children and the urgent need for comprehensive action. While the world watches and waits for news of the missing students and teachers, communities across Nigeria are left to grapple with fear, grief, and a profound sense of injustice. The hope remains that, one day, all children will be able to pursue their education in safety, free from the threat of violence.
