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Gunmen have seized over 300 students and teachers in what is considered the most significant group abductions in modern Nigerian experience, as stated by a Christian organization on the weekend.

Growing Crisis in Educational Institutions

The pre-dawn Friday assault on St Mary's mixed-gender school in Niger state occurred just days after gunmen attacked a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, seizing 25 young women.

Initial reports had suggested 227 victims were taken, but revised figures emerged after a comprehensive counting process determined that 303 pupils and 12 educators had been abducted.

The taken students, ranging between eight and 18 years, represent nearly half of the school's overall enrollment of 629.

Government Reaction and Security Measures

State officials have announced that intelligence departments and police are currently conducting a comprehensive census to verify the precise number of abducted individuals.

In response to the growing safety fears, the local authorities has mandated the shutting of all schools in the state, with nearby states adopting similar precautionary steps.

Furthermore, the national education department has directed the provisional shutting of 47 residential high schools across the country.

President Bola Tinubu has cancelled international commitments, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to focus on addressing the crisis.

Latest Security Events

The school abductions constitute the most recent in a series of safety breaches that have shaken the country, including an assault on a place of worship in western Nigeria where assailants shot dead two individuals and abducted numerous congregation members during a live-streamed service.

These incidents have occurred against the backdrop of international attention on Nigeria's safety situation.

Past Background

Nigeria continues to be scarred by the legacy of the mass kidnapping of nearly 300 female students by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a ten years ago, with several of those victims still missing.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a concerning recording circulated by religious organizations, a upset worker recounted hearing the noise of motorcycles and vehicles before experiencing "violent banging" on multiple entrances of the compound.

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

The regional Catholic diocese confirmed that the "attackers operated violently and uninterrupted for almost three hours, moving through dormitories."

Public Response and Fears

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the periphery of Abuja, worried parents were picking up their children from educational institutions following the closure order.

One parent, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, expressed her disbelief at the magnitude of the abduction, asking how 300 students could be abducted simultaneously.

She stated that the "government is failing to act to combat the security crisis," and voiced approval for international intervention to "salvage this situation."

Ongoing Safety Issues

For a long time, heavily armed criminal gangs have been conducting murders and abductions for money in remote areas of northwest and middle Nigeria, where government control is limited.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the recent attacks, bandit gangs demanding ransom payments frequently target schools in countryside locations where security is weak.

These gangs maintain camps in vast forest areas straddling multiple states in western Nigeria.

Although these bandits have no political motives and are primarily driven by monetary profit, their growing alliance with jihadist groups from the north-east has become a significant source of concern for officials and security analysts alike.