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Gunmen have seized in excess of 300 pupils and educators in what appears to be the biggest mass kidnappings in modern Nigerian history, as stated by a religious organization on the weekend.

Escalating Crisis in School Facilities

The pre-dawn Friday raid on St Mary's mixed-gender school in Niger state happened just a short time after gunmen stormed a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state, seizing 25 young women.

Earlier reports had indicated 227 victims were seized, but new figures surfaced after a detailed verification exercise established that 303 students and 12 instructors had been kidnapped.

The abducted pupils, ranging between eight and 18 years, account for nearly half of the school's overall student population of 629.

Government Reaction and Security Measures

Local officials have confirmed that intelligence departments and police are presently conducting a thorough census to determine the precise number of missing people.

In reaction to the growing safety fears, the state government has directed the shutting of every schools in the state, with neighboring states adopting comparable precautionary steps.

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

President Bola Tinubu has cancelled overseas commitments, including attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on addressing the emergency.

Recent Security Incidents

The educational institution abductions represent the latest in a sequence of security breaches that have rocked the country, including an assault on a place of worship in the west of Nigeria where assailants shot dead two people and abducted many worshipers during a online broadcast service.

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

Historical Background

Nigeria continues to be scarred by the legacy of the large-scale kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a ten years ago, with several of those girls still missing.

Eyewitness Testimonies

In a disturbing recording shared by religious groups, a distraught worker described hearing the sounds of motorcycles and cars before experiencing "violent banging" on multiple gates of the school premises.

"Children were weeping," the witness reported, recounting her fear while searching for keys to the section where the crying was most intense.

The regional Catholic diocese stated that the "assailants acted aggressively and without interruption for almost three hours, moving through sleeping quarters."

Citizen Reaction and Fears

At the same time, about 600km away on the periphery of Abuja, worried parents were picking up their children from schools following the shutdown order.

One mother, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, voiced her disbelief at the scale of the kidnapping, questioning how 300 students could be taken at once.

She stated that the "authorities is failing to act to curb insecurity," and expressed support for international assistance to "salvage this crisis."

Continuing Security Issues

For years, well-equipped bandit groups have been conducting killings and abductions for money in rural areas of northern and central Nigeria, where state presence is limited.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the recent attacks, bandit gangs demanding ransom payments often target schools in rural areas where protection is inadequate.

These gangs maintain camps in vast woodland areas straddling several states in the west of Nigeria.

While these bandits have no political motives and are primarily driven by financial gain, their growing alliance with extremist groups from the northeastern region has become a major source of worry for authorities and security analysts alike.