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Armed attackers have abducted over 300 students and teachers in one of the most significant mass kidnappings in modern Nigerian history, according to a Christian organization on the weekend.

Growing Crisis in School Facilities

The Friday morning assault on St Mary's co-educational school in western Nigeria happened just days after armed men attacked a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, seizing 25 female students.

Initial reports had suggested 227 individuals were seized, but new numbers were released after a comprehensive verification exercise determined that 303 students and 12 teachers had been abducted.

The taken children, ranging between eight and 18 years, constitute nearly half of the school's total student body of 629.

Official Response and Safety Actions

State officials have announced that security departments and law enforcement are currently performing a comprehensive assessment to establish the precise number of abducted people.

In reaction to the growing safety fears, the local authorities has directed the shutting of every schools in the region, with neighboring states following comparable preventive steps.

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

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

Recent Security Events

The school abductions represent the latest in a sequence of safety breaches that have rocked the nation, including an assault on a place of worship in western Nigeria where gunmen killed two individuals and seized dozens congregation members during a live-streamed service.

These incidents have taken place against the backdrop of international attention on Nigeria's security situation.

Past Context

Nigeria continues to be scarred by the memory of the large-scale kidnapping of nearly 300 female students by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a ten years ago, with several of those girls still missing.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a disturbing video clip shared by religious organizations, a distraught school staff member recounted hearing the noise of bikes and vehicles before hearing "forceful banging" on multiple entrances of the compound.

"Children were weeping," the witness stated, describing her terror while searching for keys to the area where the crying was loudest.

The local Catholic authority confirmed that the "attackers acted aggressively and uninterrupted for nearly three hours, moving through dormitories."

Citizen Response and Concerns

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the periphery of Abuja, worried guardians were picking up their children from educational institutions following the shutdown directive.

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

She concluded that the "authorities is not doing enough to combat insecurity," and voiced approval for international intervention to "salvage this situation."

Ongoing Safety Challenges

For a long time, heavily armed criminal gangs have been carrying out killings and kidnappings for ransom in remote areas of northwest and middle Nigeria, where government control is minimal.

While nobody has claimed responsibility for the latest incidents, bandit gangs seeking financial compensation frequently attack schools in countryside locations where security is weak.

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

Although these criminals have no political motives and are mainly motivated by financial gain, their increasing alliance with extremist groups from the northeastern region has become a significant cause of concern for authorities and experts alike.