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Gunmen have seized over 300 students and teachers in what is considered the most significant mass kidnappings in modern Nigerian experience, as reported by a religious organization on the weekend.

Growing Crisis in Educational Institutions

The early Friday raid on St Mary's mixed-gender school in western Nigeria occurred just a short time after gunmen invaded a high school in neighboring Kebbi state, seizing 25 girls.

Initial accounts had stated 227 individuals were taken, but revised figures surfaced after a detailed assessment determined that 303 pupils and 12 educators had been abducted.

The abducted students, aged between eight and 18 years, represent nearly half of the school's overall student population of 629.

Government Response and Security Measures

Local authorities have stated that security departments and police are currently performing a thorough assessment to determine the precise number of abducted individuals.

In reaction to the increasing safety fears, the state government has directed the shutting of all schools in the state, with nearby states adopting comparable preventive measures.

Furthermore, the national education department has ordered the temporary closure of 47 boarding secondary schools across the country.

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

Latest Violent Events

The educational institution abductions constitute the most recent in a series of security incidents that have shaken the nation, including an assault on a place of worship in western Nigeria where assailants killed two people and abducted numerous congregation members during a online broadcast service.

These events have occurred against the background of global focus on Nigeria's safety situation.

Past Background

Nigeria continues to be traumatized by the memory of the mass abduction of almost 300 schoolgirls by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a ten years ago, with some of those victims still unaccounted for.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a concerning video clip circulated by religious organizations, a distraught employee described hearing the sounds of motorcycles and cars before hearing "forceful banging" on various entrances of the compound.

"Students were weeping," the staff member said, describing her terror while searching for keys to the area where the crying was most intense.

The local Catholic diocese confirmed that the "assailants acted violently and without interruption for almost three hours, moving through sleeping quarters."

Public Response and Fears

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

One mother, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, voiced her disbelief at the scale of the abduction, questioning how 300 children could be abducted simultaneously.

She concluded that the "government is not doing enough to curb the security crisis," and expressed approval for international assistance to "salvage this situation."

Continuing Security Challenges

For a long time, heavily armed criminal gangs have been conducting murders and kidnappings for money in remote areas of northern and middle Nigeria, where government control is minimal.

While nobody has claimed responsibility for the recent attacks, bandit gangs seeking financial compensation often target schools in countryside locations where protection is weak.

These groups maintain camps in vast woodland areas straddling multiple states in western Nigeria.

Although these bandits have no political motives and are mainly driven by monetary profit, their increasing cooperation with extremist groups from the north-east has become a significant source of worry for officials and experts alike.