By Yakubu Muhammed
The abduction of more than 300 children and staff by gunmen from an elementary and secondary school in Nigeria’s north-central Niger State was dramatic in scale, but it represents just one more incident in the country’s tragic history of rural insecurity.
That there has been no public explanation by the authorities over who exactly the kidnappers are – and why they are still at large – is symptomatic of a security system that is failing woefully to protect its citizens, analysts suggest.
The abduction of the students from Saint Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, in Niger State’s Agwara district, is the single largest kidnapping to date. Since January 2023, at least 816 pupils have been taken in 22 school attacks – part of a far broader multi-million dollar kidnapping industry terrorising Nigeria.
The good news is that 100 of those kidnapped – 99 Saint Mary’s students and one teacher – were released unharmed on 7 December following negotiations between the authorities and their captors.
It remains unclear whether any ransom was paid, but that would seem likely: Such payments are illegal, but the authorities generally prefer a payoff rather than the harder task of assembling the intelligence, then finding and prosecuting the culprits.
Map of Nigeria
“One of the major reasons for the continued rise in mass abductions, especially school abductions, is the government’s ransom response to the problem,” said Malik Samuel, senior researcher with the Good Governance Africa think tank. ”But paying ransoms only increases the likelihood that the actors will do it again.”
This month, The New Humanitarian/Premium Times visited Papiri to document what actually happened during the school attack and, if possible, to identify who was behind the incident and determine if they could strike again.
What we discovered was that two jihadist groups have established themselves in the area; both operating out of the now-abandoned Kainji Lake National Park, which borders a string of isolated villages around Papiri.
Despite army and air force bases roughly 150 kilometres away in the towns of Wawa and New Bussa, the insurgents have launched repeated attacks on the local communities for the past five years. The security forces seem unable to identify the security threats, much less contain them.
Timetable of a tragedy
Monita Anthony is still waiting for the release of her 12-year-old daughter, Charity*, who was kidnapped along with the other children from Saint Mary’s on 21 November. The authorities have asked her to be patient, but that’s especially hard as she is struggling with a double tragedy.
Three days after the abduction, she also lost her husband, who died of his injuries following an earlier motorbike accident. “We were still treating his wounds when the news of the abduction broke,” Anthony, 26, told The New Humanitarian/Premium Times, struggling to pick her words.
Despite her husband’s condition, the couple rushed to the school, 20 kilometres from their village of Demo, in the hope of hearing any news. They joined a throng of other shocked and bemused parents waiting at the school gates.
Saint Mary’s is a private day/boarding school managed by the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora. The boarders range in age from 8 to 17. Gunshots at around 1am announced the beginning of the attack, jolting everyone awake.
Monita Anthony is still waiting for the release of her 12-year-old daughter.Yakubu Mohammed/TNH
Monita Anthony is still waiting for the release of her 12-year-old daughter.
