Federal government has secured the release of the remaining 130 schoolchildren and staff who were kidnapped from a Catholic boarding school in Niger State in November.
Gatekeepers News reports that Presidential spokesman Sunday Dare announced on X that “Another 130 abducted Niger state pupils released, none left in captivity,” and said the freed children are expected to be reunited with their families soon.
Gunmen stormed St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Agwara local government area, in the early hours of November 21, seizing more than 300 students and teachers in one of the largest school kidnappings in recent memory.
Fifty pupils escaped shortly after the attack, and around 100 were freed earlier in December, before the final group was released.
Church leaders confirmed the release and said the victims were taken to Minna, the Niger State capital, where Governor Umaru Bago is expected to receive them before they go home.
Officials have not publicly named who carried out the kidnapping or detailed how the release was secured, but authorities said the operation involved coordinated security efforts.
The mass abduction highlighted Nigeria’s ongoing security challenges in rural areas, where armed groups often target schools to abduct students for ransom or leverage.
