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Officials in Nigeria have obtained the freedom of a hundred seized schoolchildren captured by gunmen from a religious school in November, per reports from a United Nations official and Nigerian press on Sunday. Nevertheless, the whereabouts of a further one hundred and sixty-five individuals presumed to remain held captive was uncertain.

Context

During November, 315 people were kidnapped from St Mary’s co-educational boarding school in north-central a Nigerian state, as the nation faced a wave of mass abductions reminiscent of the well-known 2014 jihadist group abduction of schoolgirls in a town in north-east Nigeria.

Some fifty managed to flee soon after, resulting in two hundred and sixty-five presumed under kidnappers' control.

Freedom for Some

The a hundred students are scheduled to be transferred to state authorities this Monday, stated by the United Nations source.

“They are going to be handed over to the government tomorrow,” the individual stated to AFP.

Local media also stated that the liberation of the students had been achieved, without offering details on if it was achieved via talks or a security operation, nor on the fate of the remaining students and staff.

The freeing of the students was verified to AFP by a government spokesperson Sunday Dare.

Reaction

“We have been hoping and praying for their safe arrival, should this be accurate then it is a cheering event,” said a spokesman, representing the local diocese of the Kontagora diocese which manages the school.

“Nevertheless, we are without official confirmation and have lacked official communication by the government.”

Security Situation

Though kidnappings for ransom are prevalent in the country as a method for criminals and armed groups to generate revenue, in a series of mass abductions in November, many people were abducted, placing an critical attention on Nigeria’s already grim security situation.

The country is grappling with a long-running jihadist insurgency in the north-east, while armed bandit gangs perpetrate kidnappings and plunder communities in the north-west, and disputes between farmers and herders regarding scarce resources persist in the country’s centre.

On a smaller scale, militant factions connected to secessionist agendas also operate in the country’s restive southeastern region.

Historical Precedent

A most prominent large-scale abductions that garnered international attention was in 2014, when almost three hundred female students were snatched from their boarding school in the northeastern town of Chibok by insurgents.

Now, the country's hostage-taking crisis has “evolved into a structured, revenue-generating enterprise” that generated around $1.66 million dollars (£1.24m) between last year, according to a analysis by a Lagos-based research firm.