Liberation Achieved for One Hundred Taken Nigerian Students, but A Large Number Are Still Held

Nigerian authorities have obtained the freedom of one hundred kidnapped students taken by gunmen from a religious school last month, as stated by a United Nations official and local media on Sunday. Nevertheless, the whereabouts of an additional one hundred and sixty-five students and staff thought to remain under the control of kidnappers remained unknown.

Context

During November, three hundred and fifteen students and staff were taken from St Mary’s co-educational boarding school in central a Nigerian state, as the country buckled under a series of group seizures echoing the infamous 2014 jihadist group kidnapping of female students in Chibok.

Approximately fifty managed to flee in the immediate aftermath, resulting in two hundred and sixty-five presumed still held.

The Handover

The 100 youngsters are set to be transferred to Niger state officials on Monday, stated by the United Nations source.

“They are scheduled to be transferred to the government on Monday,” the individual stated to a news agency.

Regional reports also confirmed that the freeing of the students had been achieved, though they lacked details on whether it was done through dialogue or a security operation, nor on the situation of the remaining hostages.

The liberation of the 100 children was announced to the press by presidential spokesman Sunday Dare.

Reaction

“We've been hoping and praying for their release, if it is true then it is positive event,” said a representative, speaking for the local diocese of the religious authority which manages the school.

“Nevertheless, we are without official confirmation and have lacked official communication by the federal government.”

Security Situation

Although hostage-taking for cash are prevalent in the country as a method for illegal actors to make quick cash, in a spate of large-scale kidnappings in November, many people were taken, casting an critical spotlight on Nigeria’s serious security situation.

The country confronts a protracted Islamist militant uprising in the north-east, while armed bandit gangs perpetrate kidnappings and plunder villages in the north-west, and disputes between farmers and herders concerning scarce land and resources continue in the middle belt.

Furthermore, armed groups connected to separatist movements also are active in the nation's volatile south-east.

A Dark Legacy

Among the first mass kidnappings that garnered worldwide outrage was in 2014, when about 300 female students were snatched from their boarding school in the northeastern town of Chibok by insurgents.

Now, the country's kidnap-for-ransom crisis has “consolidated into a organized, revenue-generating industry” that raised about a significant sum between last year, stated in a recent report by a Nigerian consultancy.