Nigeria reels - Another 215 children taken in second mass school abduction in a week : Shared by Tom McDermott

Nigeria reels after 215 children taken in second mass school abduction in a week
Eromo Egbejule
The Guardian
Nov 21, 2025
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UPDATE As of 22 November :  The number of those abducted from the rural Catholic school in St. Mary’s School, Papiri (Papiri community, Niger State) has been revised upward: the association now reports 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were taken. In response, authorities in multiple states (including Kwara State) have shut or evacuated schools as a precaution. Reuters

Summary: 

Gunmen abducted 215 pupils and 12 teachers from a Catholic school in Nigeria’s Niger State, marking the second large-scale school kidnapping in a week and highlighting the mounting security crisis and ransom-driven violence in central and northern Nigeria. The government faces increasing international scrutiny, including threats of U.S. intervention, amid frequent attacks that splice criminality, insurgency and communal conflict.

The incident came just days after another abduction of 25 schoolgirls in Kebbi State, northern Nigeria.School-kidnapping as a tactic is clearly escalating not just in the northeast (where it's long occurred) but also in the central and northwest of Nigeria where governance and security are weaker.

Quotes:

“We don’t know what is happening now, because we have not heard anything since this morning.”
“The heavily armed security personnel spent time taking photographs with the students, only to abandon them 30 minutes before the attack.”