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Gunmen have abducted over 300 pupils and educators in what appears to be the biggest collective seizures in modern Nigerian experience, as reported by a Christian organization on the weekend.

Growing Emergency in School Institutions

The pre-dawn Friday assault on St Mary's mixed-gender school in western Nigeria occurred just a short time after armed men invaded a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, abducting 25 female students.

Initial reports had suggested 227 victims were seized, but revised figures were released after a comprehensive assessment established that 303 students and 12 educators had been kidnapped.

The kidnapped students, aged between eight and 18 years, constitute nearly half of the school's total student body of 629.

Official Reaction and Safety Measures

Local authorities have stated that intelligence departments and police are presently performing a comprehensive census to verify the precise number of abducted individuals.

In response to the growing security fears, the local authorities has mandated the closure of every schools in the state, with nearby states adopting similar preventive measures.

Furthermore, the federal education ministry has ordered the temporary shutting of 47 boarding secondary schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has postponed international engagements, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to focus on managing the situation.

Recent Security Events

The educational institution kidnappings represent the latest in a sequence of security breaches that have rocked the nation, including an assault on a church in western Nigeria where gunmen killed two people and seized numerous congregation members during a live-streamed service.

These incidents have taken place against the background of global attention on Nigeria's safety situation.

Historical Background

Nigeria remains traumatized by the legacy of the mass kidnapping of nearly 300 female students by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a decade ago, with some of those victims still missing.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a disturbing recording circulated by Christian groups, a distraught school staff member described hearing the sounds of bikes and cars before experiencing "forceful banging" on various gates of the school premises.

"Children were screaming," the staff member said, recounting her panic while looking for access to the area where the screaming was loudest.

The local Catholic diocese confirmed that the "assailants acted violently and uninterrupted for nearly three hours, moving through sleeping quarters."

Public Response and Concerns

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried guardians were collecting their students from schools following the shutdown directive.

One mother, a 40-year-old nurse, expressed her disbelief at the scale of the abduction, asking how 300 students could be abducted simultaneously.

She stated that the "government is failing to act to address insecurity," and voiced approval for external intervention to "resolve this crisis."

Continuing Security Issues

For a long time, heavily armed criminal gangs have been carrying out murders and kidnappings for ransom in rural areas of northwest and middle Nigeria, where government control is limited.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the recent incidents, criminal groups seeking financial compensation frequently attack schools in rural areas where security is inadequate.

These gangs maintain bases in extensive forest areas straddling multiple states in the west of Nigeria.

While these criminals have no political motives and are mainly driven by monetary profit, their growing cooperation with extremist groups from the north-east has become a major source of worry for officials and experts alike.