About 130 pupils aged roughly four to ten from St. Mary's boarding school were handed to Niger State officials after a late-November mass abduction. Seven teachers and support staff were also returned. Authorities have not named the abductors or disclosed how the releases were secured, and final verification of all reported missing remains ongoing. The incident highlights persistent gaps in school security amid a growing kidnap-for-profit industry in Nigeria.
130 St. Mary's Pupils Returned to Authorities After Mass Abduction — Release Raises New Questions
Some 130 Nigerian Catholic school pupils were handed over to state authorities a month after they were kidnapped (Chenemi Bamaiyi)(Chenemi Bamaiyi/AFP/AFP)
About 130 pupils from St. Mary's co-educational boarding school were handed over to Niger State authorities on Monday, roughly a month after they were abducted in a late-November raid that drew fresh attention to Nigeria's worsening school-security crisis.
What Happened
An AFP reporter in Minna saw six vans carrying children escorted by security forces in armoured vehicles to the Niger State Government House, where officials said the group included the last batch of abductees along with seven teachers and support staff. One on-scene teacher told reporters the children were between four and ten years old.
'Thank God for the mercy he has shown us, because if you look at these children and imagine the torment they went through, it is unbearable,' Niger state Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago said at the reception ceremony.
Numbers, Confusion And Verification
Counting who was taken and who escaped has been confused from the start. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) initially reported 315 students and staff unaccounted for after the attack in the rural hamlet of Papiri. Around 50 escaped during the assault, and the government said it had secured the release of roughly 100 on December 7. Before Monday's handover of 130 pupils, about 165 were believed still in captivity. A UN source later told AFP that many of those earlier reported missing had actually fled the scene and made their way home; authorities say final verification is still under way.
Who Carried Out The Attack — And How Were The Children Freed?
Officials have not publicly identified the gunmen responsible for the St. Mary's abduction, nor disclosed the method by which the releases were secured. Analysts point to a pattern in past incidents: despite legal prohibitions, ransom payments are often used to secure hostages' release. The government has not confirmed whether a ransom was paid.
Wider Context
Nigeria faces multiple, overlapping security threats — from jihadist insurgents in the northeast to heavily armed 'bandit' gangs in other regions — and attacks on schools have become tragically common. The St. Mary's raid evoked memories of the 2014 Chibok abduction, when Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls. A recent report from Lagos-based SBM Intelligence estimated that kidnap-for-ransom activity generated about $1.66 million between July 2024 and June 2025.
Information Minister Mohammed Idris, speaking in Abuja, urged optimism and pointed to government efforts to reduce such attacks, but he was pressed on why many schools remain vulnerable despite millions spent on security over the past decade.
Next steps: Authorities say they will complete verification of all reported missing pupils and continue investigating the perpetrators and the circumstances of the release.
