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Armed attackers have kidnapped over 300 students and teachers in what appears to be the biggest group abductions in modern Nigerian experience, according to a religious organization on the weekend.

Growing Emergency in School Institutions

The early Friday raid on St Mary's mixed-gender school in western Nigeria occurred just days after gunmen attacked a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, taking 25 female students.

Initial accounts had indicated 227 victims were taken, but updated figures surfaced after a thorough counting process confirmed that 303 pupils and 12 teachers had been kidnapped.

The taken children, ranging between eight and 18 years, constitute nearly half of the school's overall enrollment of 629.

Official Reaction and Security Actions

State authorities have announced that security agencies and law enforcement are currently performing a thorough assessment to determine the precise number of abducted individuals.

In response to the increasing safety fears, the local authorities has ordered the shutting of every schools in the region, with nearby states adopting similar preventive steps.

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

President Bola Tinubu has postponed international engagements, including attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on addressing the emergency.

Recent Violent Events

The educational institution kidnappings constitute the latest in a series of security incidents that have rocked the country, including an assault on a church in western Nigeria where assailants shot dead two people and seized many congregation members during a live-streamed service.

These incidents have occurred against the background of global focus on Nigeria's security situation.

Historical Background

Nigeria remains scarred by the legacy of the mass kidnapping of nearly 300 female students by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a decade ago, with several of those victims still missing.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a concerning video clip shared by Christian organizations, a upset worker described hearing the noise of motorcycles and vehicles before experiencing "forceful banging" on various entrances of the compound.

"Students were weeping," the witness reported, recounting her panic while searching for keys to the area where the crying was loudest.

The local Catholic diocese confirmed that the "attackers acted aggressively and uninterrupted for nearly three hours, moving through sleeping quarters."

Citizen Response and Concerns

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

One mother, a 40-year-old nurse, expressed her shock at the magnitude of the kidnapping, questioning how 300 children could be abducted simultaneously.

She concluded that the "government is not doing enough to combat insecurity," and voiced support for international intervention to "resolve this crisis."

Ongoing Security Challenges

For a long time, heavily armed criminal gangs have been conducting killings and abductions for money in remote areas of northwest and middle Nigeria, where government control is limited.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the latest incidents, bandit gangs demanding ransom payments frequently target schools in rural areas where security is weak.

These groups maintain camps in extensive forest areas spanning several states in the west of Nigeria.

Although these criminals have no ideological leanings and are mainly motivated by financial gain, their growing cooperation with jihadist groups from the northeastern region has become a major source of concern for officials and experts alike.