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Armed attackers have seized in excess of 300 students and teachers in one of the most significant group abductions in modern Nigerian times, as stated by a religious organization on Saturday.

Growing Crisis in Educational Facilities

The Friday morning assault on St Mary's co-educational school in Niger state came just days after gunmen attacked a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state, seizing 25 girls.

Initial reports had stated 227 victims were taken, but revised figures were released after a detailed counting process confirmed that 303 pupils and 12 teachers had been kidnapped.

The taken pupils, ranging between eight and 18 years, constitute nearly 50 percent of the school's total student population of 629.

Government Response and Safety Actions

Local officials have announced that intelligence departments and police are currently conducting a comprehensive census to verify the exact number of abducted individuals.

In reaction to the growing security concerns, the local authorities has mandated the shutting of all schools in the region, with nearby states adopting comparable preventive actions.

Additionally, the federal education department has ordered the provisional shutting of 47 residential high schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has cancelled international engagements, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on managing the situation.

Recent Security Events

The school kidnappings represent the most recent in a sequence of safety incidents that have rocked the country, including an assault on a place of worship in the west of Nigeria where assailants shot dead two people and seized many congregation members during a online broadcast service.

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

Past Context

Nigeria continues to be traumatized by the legacy of the large-scale abduction of nearly 300 female students by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a decade ago, with some of those victims still unaccounted for.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a concerning recording shared by Christian groups, a frightened school staff member recounted hearing the noise of motorcycles and cars before hearing "violent banging" on multiple gates of the school premises.

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

The regional Catholic authority stated that the "attackers acted aggressively and uninterrupted for almost three hours, searching sleeping quarters."

Public Response and Concerns

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried parents were collecting their students from educational institutions following the closure directive.

One mother, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, voiced her disbelief at the magnitude of the kidnapping, questioning how 300 children could be taken simultaneously.

She concluded that the "government is failing to act to combat insecurity," and voiced approval for external assistance to "salvage this situation."

Ongoing Safety Issues

For years, heavily armed criminal gangs have been carrying out murders and kidnappings for ransom in rural areas of northern and middle Nigeria, where government control is limited.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the recent incidents, criminal groups demanding ransom payments frequently attack schools in rural areas where protection is inadequate.

These groups maintain camps in extensive woodland areas spanning multiple states in the west of Nigeria.

Although these bandits have no political motives and are mainly motivated by monetary profit, their increasing cooperation with jihadist groups from the northeastern region has become a major source of worry for officials and experts alike.