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Armed attackers have kidnapped more than 300 schoolchildren and staff in what is considered the most significant collective seizures in recent Nigerian history, as stated by a religious organization on Saturday.

Growing Emergency in School Institutions

The Friday morning assault on St Mary's mixed-gender school in western Nigeria occurred just days after gunmen invaded a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state, taking 25 female students.

Initial accounts had suggested 227 victims were seized, but revised figures surfaced after a thorough verification exercise determined that 303 students and 12 educators had been kidnapped.

The taken pupils, ranging between eight and 18 years, represent nearly 50 percent of the school's overall student population of 629.

Official Response and Security Measures

State authorities have announced that intelligence departments and police are currently performing a comprehensive assessment to determine the exact number of abducted people.

In response to the increasing security fears, the local authorities has ordered the shutting of all schools in the state, with neighboring states adopting similar precautionary steps.

Furthermore, the national education ministry has ordered the provisional shutting of 47 boarding secondary schools throughout the country.

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

Latest Security Events

The educational institution abductions represent the latest in a series of security incidents that have shaken the country, including an assault on a church in western Nigeria where gunmen shot dead two individuals and abducted numerous congregation members during a online broadcast service.

These incidents have occurred against the backdrop of international focus on Nigeria's safety situation.

Historical Background

Nigeria remains scarred by the memory of the mass abduction 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 video clip circulated by religious organizations, a distraught employee recounted hearing the noise of motorcycles and vehicles before experiencing "violent banging" on various entrances of the compound.

"Students were crying," the staff member reported, describing her panic while searching for access to the area where the screaming was most intense.

The local Catholic authority stated that the "assailants acted violently and without interruption for almost three hours, searching sleeping quarters."

Public Response and Concerns

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the periphery of Abuja, worried parents were collecting their children from schools following the closure order.

One mother, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, voiced her shock at the magnitude of the kidnapping, asking how 300 children could be abducted simultaneously.

She concluded that the "government is not doing enough to address the security crisis," and voiced approval for international intervention to "resolve this crisis."

Continuing Security Issues

For a long time, heavily armed criminal gangs have been carrying out killings and abductions for money in rural areas of northern and middle Nigeria, where state presence is limited.

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

These gangs maintain bases in vast woodland areas spanning multiple states in western Nigeria.

Although these bandits have no ideological leanings and are primarily driven by financial gain, their increasing alliance with extremist groups from the north-east has become a significant cause of concern for officials and experts alike.