In brief
The Nigerian President Bola Tinubu announced the release of 24 schoolgirls abducted from the Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School in Kebbi State. Their abduction, which occurred on November 17, highlighted an alarming trend of school kidnappings in Nigeria, with more than 250 children still missing from a recent incident in Niger State. The government's response to recent kidnappings and measures to enhance security are under scrutiny as concerns mount over safety in educational institutions.
A group of 24 Nigerian girls who were abducted from their boarding school over a week ago have been released, the country's president said.
Armed assailants stormed the school in Nigeria's Kebbi State on 17 November, killing two members of staff and abducting about 25 students. Two were able to escape soon after.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu praised security forces for their swift response to the incident - although the circumstances of the girls' release remained unclear.
Africa's most populous nation has suffered a spate of abductions in recent years - with more than 250 children abducted from a Catholic school last Friday still missing.
In a statement, a special adviser to the president confirmed that all the girls taken from the school in Kebbi State had been accounted for, saying that the raid had triggered copycat kidnappings in two neighbouring Nigerian states.
Tinubu said that more personnel would be deployed to vulnerable areas to avert further incidents of kidnapping.
In a separate post on X, Tinubu wrote: The Air Force is to maintain continuous surveillance over the most remote areas, synchronising operations with ground units to effectively identify, isolate, disrupt, and neutralise all hostile elements.
More than 1,500 children have been abducted from Nigerian schools since 2014, when 276 girls were abducted during the infamous Chibok mass abduction.
On Friday, at least 300 children and staff were abducted from St Mary's School, a Catholic boarding school, in Niger state, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria, which says that at least 250 remain unaccounted for.
However, some Nigerian officials have suggested that the number of those kidnapped may be lower.
The main Catholic cleric in the region has told the BBC that Nigeria's government is making no meaningful effort to rescue those still missing.
The abduction at the school was the third to hit Nigeria in a week, forcing President Bola Tinubu to cancel his trip to the G20 summit to deal with the crisis.
UN education envoy Gordon Brown called on the international community to do our utmost to support efforts to return the abducted children. Brown, a former UK prime minister, stated that it's crucial to ensure that Nigerian schools are safe spaces for learning.
The kidnapping of individuals by criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, has become a serious problem in numerous regions of Nigeria, with jihadist groups also implementing attacks in the northeast of the country.
