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Armed attackers have seized more than 300 schoolchildren and staff in what is considered the biggest collective seizures in recent Nigerian experience, according to a religious organization on the weekend.

Escalating Crisis in School Facilities

The pre-dawn Friday assault on St Mary's co-educational school in Niger state happened just a short time after gunmen stormed a high school in adjacent Kebbi state, abducting 25 female students.

Initial accounts had suggested 227 victims were seized, but revised figures emerged after a detailed counting process established that 303 pupils and 12 educators had been kidnapped.

The kidnapped students, ranging between eight and 18 years, constitute nearly half of the school's overall student body of 629.

Official Response and Safety Measures

State officials have announced that security agencies and law enforcement are presently conducting a comprehensive census to verify the exact number of missing people.

In reaction to the increasing security concerns, the local authorities has mandated the closure of every schools in the region, with nearby states following comparable preventive actions.

Furthermore, the federal education ministry has directed the temporary closure of 47 residential high schools across the country.

President Bola Tinubu has postponed international commitments, including attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to focus on managing the crisis.

Recent Security Incidents

The educational institution abductions represent the most recent in a series of safety incidents that have shaken the nation, including an assault on a place of worship in the west of Nigeria where assailants killed two individuals and abducted many worshipers during a live-streamed service.

These events have taken place against the background of global focus on Nigeria's safety situation.

Past Context

Nigeria remains traumatized by the legacy of the large-scale kidnapping of nearly 300 female students by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a decade ago, with some of those girls still unaccounted for.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a concerning recording shared by religious groups, a frightened employee recounted hearing the noise of bikes and cars before hearing "forceful banging" on multiple entrances of the school premises.

"Children were screaming," the staff member reported, recounting her fear while looking for keys to the area where the screaming was most intense.

The local Catholic diocese confirmed that the "attackers operated aggressively and without interruption for nearly three hours, moving through dormitories."

Citizen Reaction and Fears

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the periphery of Abuja, concerned parents were collecting their children from schools following the shutdown directive.

One parent, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, expressed her shock at the magnitude of the kidnapping, questioning how 300 children could be abducted at once.

She stated that the "government is failing to act to curb the security crisis," and voiced support for international intervention to "salvage this crisis."

Continuing Security Challenges

For years, well-equipped bandit groups have been carrying out murders and kidnappings for money in remote areas of northwest and middle Nigeria, where government control is limited.

While nobody has claimed responsibility for the recent incidents, criminal groups seeking financial compensation frequently target schools in rural areas where security is weak.

These gangs maintain bases in vast forest areas spanning multiple states in the west of Nigeria.

Although these criminals have no ideological leanings and are primarily driven by monetary profit, their growing alliance with jihadist groups from the north-east has become a significant source of worry for authorities and experts alike.