Hundreds of Students Abducted in Nigeria as Kidnappings Ramp Up
Jordan Buxton looks into the recent surge of abductions in the West African country.
On the morning of December 11, during Nigeria’s dry season, armed gunmen stormed the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara in central Katsina state. Carrying rifles, the group kidnapped over 300 students. The attackers masqueraded as the terrorist group Boko Haram but were later identified as local bandits
This is just one of many kidnappings that have taken place since the end of 2020. In total, over 700 schoolchildren and students have disappeared since then. This rise has led to a growing distrust in Nigerian security forces as more and more students are going missing.
Fortunately for the 344 students kidnapped on December 11, the military was able to rescue them only a few days later. But they were just the first of many to be abducted in a ghastly repetition of attacks.
On December 19, 80 schoolchildren were again kidnapped in Katsina state, this time in the village of Mahuta. On January 25th, seven more children were kidnapped from the Nigerian capital of Abuja. On February 17, one child was shot and killed and another 42 students, staff, and family members were abducted in Niger state. 279 schoolgirls were taken on February 26th.
More recently, 180 students and staff were rescued, again by the Nigerian military, on the morning of March 12 after being abducted in a raid of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization earlier in the month in Lagos. 39 of the abducted students are still missing. Surveillance revealed these students still in captivity to be in good health.
While the government is attempting to continue to prove itself in the rescue of the abducted individuals, they are also trying to reestablish trust with the citizens of Nigeria by preventing further incidents. While they have been largely unsuccessful, an attempt on March 14 to once again raid the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Lagos was stopped by Nigerian security forces. The Federal College is located nearby to a military training facility, a facility that should deter such actions. The proximity of the military installation to the school puts into perspective both the ability of Nigerian forces to prevent such actions and the perception of the Nigerian government held by the perpetrators.
So far, the government has been reluctant to negotiate with the kidnappers, who, although they share no relation with the notorious group referred as Boko Haram who they claimed to be, are terrorists in their own right.
President Muhammadu Buhari has insisted state governments do not negotiate with the perpetrators as this would fuel the crisis further. In the past, kidnappers have been paid large ransoms in the form of lump sums of money and nice cars. According to the BBC, the leader of the group who kidnapped the 344 children in Katsina state, Auwalu Daudawa, negotiated his own pardon, agreeing to surrender his guns in exchange for clemency as well as accommodations and financial assistance from the local government for both himself and his gang.
While ransoming kidnapped children for cars and cash has allowed for their safe return so far, parents and family members of the abducted fear for the health and safety of the schoolchildren, and are largely dissatisfied with the government’s ability in reacting to and preventing this kidnapping spree. To them, the government is not only failing in preventing future abductions, but they are also incentivizing it.
“We don’t see the value of the government, in fact. I have a younger brother and a child taken by the kidnappers,” Bint’a Ismail, a mother and sister of two of those abducted on December 11 told the Al Jazeera network.
There have previous waves of mass kidnappings. In 2014, Boko Haram was accused of having kidnapped over 270 schoolgirls in Chibok in northern Nigeria. Again in 2018, the group was accused of kidnapping over 100 from Dapchi in Yobe State, in northeast Nigeria.
Kidnappings are one of many security issues plaguing Africa’s most populous nation. The threat of Boko Haram is ever looming, as well as conflicts between farmers and nomads in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. Over 3,000 individuals were reported killed in violence in Kaduna state in 2020 alone.
