Nearly 300 abducted schoolchildren in northwest Nigeria freed after two weeks

Abuja, March 24

Nearly 300 schoolchildren abducted from their school in northwest Nigeria’s Kaduna state have been released, the state governor said on Sunday, more than two weeks after the children were seized from their school.

Kaduna Governor Uba Sani did not give details of the release of the 287 students abducted on March 7 from their school in Kaduna’s remote Kuriga town. In a statement, he thanked Nigerian President Bola Tinubu “particularly ensuring that the abducted Kuriga school children are released unharmed.”

Abductions of students from schools in northern Nigeria are common and have been a major source of concern since 2014, when Islamic extremists kidnapped over 200 schoolgirls in Borno state’s Chibok village. In recent years, abductions have been concentrated in the country’s northwestern and central regions, where dozens of armed groups often target villagers and travellers for ransom.