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Armed attackers have seized more than 300 students and teachers in what is considered the most significant mass kidnappings in modern Nigerian experience, according to a religious organization on the weekend.

Escalating Emergency in School Institutions

The pre-dawn Friday assault on St Mary's co-educational school in western Nigeria came just days after gunmen attacked a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state, seizing 25 female students.

Initial accounts had indicated 227 individuals were seized, but updated figures surfaced after a detailed verification exercise determined that 303 pupils and 12 teachers had been abducted.

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

Government Reaction and Security Actions

Local officials have stated that intelligence agencies and law enforcement are presently performing a comprehensive census to determine the exact number of abducted people.

In reaction to the increasing security fears, the state government has mandated the closure of every schools in the region, with nearby states following similar preventive measures.

Additionally, the national education department has ordered the temporary shutting of 47 residential high schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has cancelled overseas commitments, including attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on handling the emergency.

Latest Security Events

The educational institution kidnappings represent the latest in a sequence of safety incidents that have shaken the nation, including an assault on a place of worship in western Nigeria where assailants killed two individuals and abducted numerous congregation members during a online broadcast service.

These events have taken place against the backdrop of global focus on Nigeria's security situation.

Past Background

Nigeria continues to be scarred by the memory of the large-scale abduction of nearly 300 female students by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a ten years ago, with some of those victims still missing.

Firsthand Accounts

In a concerning recording circulated by religious groups, a distraught worker recounted hearing the noise of bikes and vehicles before experiencing "violent banging" on various gates of the compound.

"Children were crying," the witness said, describing her fear while searching for access to the section where the screaming was most intense.

The local Catholic diocese stated that the "attackers operated violently and without interruption for almost three hours, moving through dormitories."

Citizen Response and Concerns

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried guardians were collecting their students from educational institutions following the closure directive.

One parent, a 40-year-old nurse, expressed her disbelief at the magnitude of the kidnapping, questioning how 300 children could be abducted at once.

She stated that the "government is failing to act to curb the security crisis," and expressed support for external intervention to "salvage this situation."

Ongoing Safety Issues

For years, heavily armed criminal gangs have been conducting killings and abductions for ransom in remote areas of northern and middle Nigeria, where government control is minimal.

While no group has taken credit for the recent incidents, criminal groups seeking ransom payments often target schools in rural areas where security is weak.

These groups maintain camps in vast forest areas straddling multiple states in the west of Nigeria.

While these bandits have no political motives and are primarily driven by monetary profit, their growing alliance with jihadist groups from the north-east has become a significant source of concern for officials and security analysts alike.