According to BBC reporting, one of Nigeria’s worst school kidnappings in recent years took place on Friday when armed men abducted more than 300 children and staff from St. Mary’s School, a Catholic institution in Papiri, Niger state. The Christian Association of Nigeria now estimates that 303 students and 12 teachers were taken, following a verification review that updated earlier, lower figures.
Police say the attack occurred around 02:00 local time, targeting the school’s boarding section while students were asleep.
Families told the BBC they were caught unaware, and many parents arrived at the school later that morning to discover their children missing. One parent noted that the incident “took everybody by surprise,” while another relative reported that her young nieces, ages six and 13, were among those abducted.
Security agencies have begun operations in nearby forest areas to rescue the children, though officials have not provided a timeline for possible rescue efforts.
Nigeria's violence
The incident marks yet another mass school abduction in Nigeria within a week, part of a pattern of large-scale kidnappings attributed to criminal gangs.
Ransom payments are now illegal (to discourage kidnappings), yet the practice remains widespread and continues to drive similar operations across northern and central regions of the country.
Niger state authorities stated that St. Mary’s had been instructed to close its boarding facilities due to intelligence warnings indicating an increased risk of attack. A government spokesperson said the school’s decision to remain open exposed students and staff to “avoidable risk.” School officials have not publicly responded to that claim.
The revised number of those abducted is believed to represent nearly half of the student population, according to AFP figures cited by the BBC. The scale places this incident above the infamous 2014 Chibok kidnapping, in which 276 girls were taken by Boko Haram.
The event comes amid renewed international focus on attacks in Nigeria, and if they disproportionately target Christians.
Some U.S. political figures have framed recent violence as evidence of systematic anti-Christian persecution. The Nigerian government rejects this assessment, calling it “a gross misrepresentation of reality.” Officials argue that extremist and criminal groups target individuals across religious lines, including Muslims and those with no religious affiliation. Organizations tracking violence also report that many attacks occur in majority-Muslim areas, where the victims are themselves largely Muslim.
In central Nigeria, analysts attribute many clashes between herding and farming communities to competition over land and water, with religious identity often playing a secondary role.
The just released 2025 Religious Freedom Report from an organization with globally recognized expertise in the area of Christian persecution, Aid to the Church in Need, notes the following about Nigeria:
Although religious affiliation plays a key role in the ongoing violence in Nigeria, conflict is also attributed to a number of social factors including but not limited to poverty, preexisting ethnic and intercommunal violence, bloodshed between predominantly Fulani herders and non-Fulani farmers over land and water disputes, illiteracy, youth unemployment, institutional weakness and governance inaction.
It is also important to note that, although Christians suffer the brunt of extremist violence, the fact that the terrorist groups operate in states with a predominantly Muslim population means that the violence has not only affected Christians, but also Muslims.
Still, the targeting of a Catholic school adds to concerns about the vulnerability of religious institutions, which often serve both Christian and Muslim families in mixed communities.
President Bola Tinubu has postponed scheduled foreign travel, including plans to attend the G20 summit in South Africa, to address the growing security crisis and the increased international spotlight.
The federal government has also ordered dozens of colleges to close temporarily, and several states have shut public schools until further notice. Public frustration is rising as citizens call for more effective measures to protect students.
As operations continue in Niger state, authorities have not announced any breakthroughs. For now, St Mary’s joins a growing list of Nigerian schools facing prolonged uncertainty as families wait for developments in an increasingly complex security environment.
