Feb, 26th, 2021 A parent and a teacher from Nigeria’s north-western state of Zamfara have reported that more than 300 students have been kidnapped from a girls boarding school. The act that took place in the wee hours of the morning, has not had a comment from the police in Zamfara state. The two stated that armed gunmen carried out the attack.
Earlier this month, another attack took place in Nigeria’s northwestern Niger State on February 17, 2021 where hundreds of students and teachers were abducted leaving one student dead. Niger is among the states in Nigeria’s northwest and northcentral regions with security challenges from gangs of bandits pillaging, extorting, and kidnapping for ransom in mostly rural areas.
These incidences have raised questions about the safety of schools in parts of northern Nigeria as they come two months after more than 300 students were kidnapped in a similar invasion at government science secondary school in Kankara in Katsina, President Buhari’s home state.
Due to concerns about the safety in schools following the February 17th incident, Niger state’s Governor Abubakar Sani Bello closed all boarding schools in the area and dispatched the military to rescue those kidnapped from the school, according to his chief press secretary Mary Noel Barje.
President Buhari has since condemned the abduction of the school children.