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Armed attackers have seized more than 300 schoolchildren and staff in what appears to be the biggest group abductions in modern Nigerian experience, according to a Christian organization on the weekend.

Growing Crisis in School Facilities

The Friday morning attack on St Mary's co-educational school in Niger state occurred just days after gunmen invaded a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, seizing 25 female students.

Initial accounts had indicated 227 victims were seized, but updated figures were released after a thorough counting process confirmed that 303 pupils and 12 educators had been kidnapped.

The kidnapped students, aged between eight and 18 years, account for nearly 50 percent of the school's total enrollment of 629.

Government Response and Security Measures

Local authorities have announced that security agencies and law enforcement are currently performing a comprehensive assessment to determine the precise number of missing people.

In response to the growing safety fears, the state government has mandated the shutting of all schools in the state, with neighboring states adopting comparable preventive actions.

Furthermore, the national education department has ordered the temporary shutting of 47 boarding secondary schools throughout the country.

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

Recent Security Incidents

The educational institution kidnappings represent the latest in a sequence of security breaches that have rocked the country, including an assault on a church in western Nigeria where gunmen killed two individuals and seized many congregation members during a live-streamed service.

These events 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 almost 300 schoolgirls by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a decade ago, with some of those victims still missing.

Firsthand Accounts

In a disturbing recording shared by religious groups, a distraught employee recounted hearing the noise of bikes and vehicles before experiencing "forceful banging" on various entrances of the school premises.

"Children were screaming," the staff member reported, recounting her terror while looking for keys to the area where the crying was most intense.

The regional Catholic authority confirmed that the "assailants acted aggressively and uninterrupted for nearly three hours, searching sleeping quarters."

Citizen Reaction and Concerns

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the periphery of Abuja, worried guardians were collecting their students from educational institutions following the closure order.

One mother, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, expressed her shock at the scale of the abduction, asking how 300 children could be abducted at once.

She stated that the "authorities is failing to act to combat the security crisis," and voiced approval for external assistance to "resolve this crisis."

Ongoing Safety Challenges

For years, well-equipped criminal gangs have been conducting killings and abductions for money in remote areas of northern and central Nigeria, where government control is limited.

While nobody has claimed responsibility for the recent incidents, bandit gangs seeking financial compensation frequently target schools in rural areas where security is inadequate.

These groups maintain camps in vast forest areas straddling multiple states in the west of Nigeria.

While these bandits have no political motives and are primarily driven by monetary profit, their growing alliance with extremist groups from the northeastern region has become a significant source of worry for officials and experts alike.