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Gunmen have seized over 300 students and teachers in one of the most significant mass kidnappings in modern Nigerian times, as reported by a religious organization on the weekend.

Escalating Crisis in School Institutions

The early Friday raid on St Mary's co-educational school in Niger state came just days after armed men stormed a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state, seizing 25 girls.

Earlier accounts had suggested 227 victims were seized, but updated figures surfaced after a comprehensive counting process established that 303 pupils and 12 instructors had been abducted.

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

Government Reaction and Safety Measures

Local officials have confirmed that intelligence departments and law enforcement are presently performing a thorough head count to determine the precise number of missing individuals.

In reaction to the growing security fears, the local authorities has directed the closure of every schools in the state, with nearby states following comparable precautionary steps.

Additionally, the federal education department has directed the provisional shutting of 47 boarding secondary schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has called off international engagements, including attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on addressing the emergency.

Latest Violent Events

The educational institution kidnappings constitute the most recent in a sequence of security incidents that have shaken the nation, including an attack on a place of worship in western Nigeria where gunmen killed two people and abducted dozens worshipers during a online broadcast service.

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

Historical Background

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

Firsthand Accounts

In a concerning recording shared by Christian organizations, a distraught school staff member recounted hearing the sounds of bikes and vehicles before experiencing "violent banging" on various gates of the school premises.

"Children were screaming," the witness reported, describing her terror while looking for access to the section where the crying was loudest.

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

Public Reaction and Fears

At the same time, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried parents were collecting their students from educational institutions following the shutdown directive.

One parent, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, voiced her shock at the magnitude of the kidnapping, asking how 300 children could be abducted simultaneously.

She concluded that the "authorities is failing to act to curb the security crisis," and voiced support for international assistance to "salvage this situation."

Continuing Safety Issues

For years, well-equipped criminal gangs have been conducting killings and abductions for ransom in remote areas of northern and central Nigeria, where state presence is limited.

While no group has taken credit for the recent incidents, criminal groups seeking financial compensation often target schools in rural areas where security is inadequate.

These gangs maintain bases in vast woodland areas straddling multiple states in western Nigeria.

Although these bandits have no political motives and are primarily motivated by financial gain, their growing cooperation with extremist groups from the north-east has become a significant source of worry for officials and experts alike.