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Gunmen have seized more than 300 pupils and educators in what appears to be the most significant collective seizures in modern Nigerian history, as stated by a religious organization on the weekend.

Escalating Emergency in Educational Institutions

The pre-dawn Friday assault on St Mary's co-educational school in western Nigeria occurred just days after armed men stormed a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state, abducting 25 girls.

Initial accounts had suggested 227 victims were taken, but new figures surfaced after a comprehensive verification exercise confirmed that 303 pupils and 12 educators had been abducted.

The kidnapped children, aged between eight and 18 years, represent nearly half of the school's total student body of 629.

Government Reaction and Safety Actions

State authorities have announced that security departments and law enforcement are currently performing a thorough assessment to verify the precise number of missing individuals.

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

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

President Bola Tinubu has called off international commitments, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to focus on handling the crisis.

Recent Violent Events

The educational institution kidnappings represent the latest in a series of safety breaches that have rocked the nation, including an attack on a church in the west of Nigeria where gunmen killed two individuals and seized numerous congregation members during a online broadcast service.

These incidents have occurred against the background of international attention on Nigeria's security situation.

Past Background

Nigeria continues to be scarred by the memory of the large-scale kidnapping of almost 300 schoolgirls by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a ten years ago, with some of those girls still unaccounted for.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a disturbing video clip shared by Christian organizations, a distraught employee recounted hearing the sounds of motorcycles and cars before hearing "violent banging" on various entrances of the compound.

"Children were weeping," the staff member said, describing her terror while looking for keys to the section where the crying was loudest.

The regional Catholic diocese confirmed that the "attackers acted violently and without interruption for almost three hours, searching sleeping quarters."

Citizen Response and Fears

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, concerned guardians were picking up their students from schools following the closure order.

One parent, a 40-year-old nurse, voiced her disbelief at the magnitude of the kidnapping, asking how 300 students could be taken simultaneously.

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

Continuing Safety Challenges

For years, well-equipped criminal gangs have been conducting killings and abductions for ransom in rural areas of northwest and middle Nigeria, where state presence is minimal.

While nobody has claimed responsibility for the latest incidents, criminal groups seeking financial compensation often target schools in rural areas where protection is inadequate.

These gangs maintain bases in extensive woodland areas straddling multiple states in the west of Nigeria.

Although these bandits have no ideological leanings and are primarily driven by monetary profit, their increasing alliance with jihadist groups from the north-east has become a major source of worry for authorities and experts alike.