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Gunmen have kidnapped over 300 pupils and educators in one of the most significant collective seizures in modern Nigerian experience, according to a religious organization on Saturday.

Escalating Crisis in Educational Institutions

The early Friday raid on St Mary's mixed-gender school in Niger state occurred just a short time after gunmen attacked a high school in adjacent Kebbi state, taking 25 young women.

Earlier accounts had stated 227 victims were taken, but new figures surfaced after a detailed assessment determined that 303 pupils and 12 teachers had been abducted.

The kidnapped students, ranging between eight and 18 years, constitute nearly 50 percent of the school's overall student population of 629.

Official Response and Safety Actions

State authorities have stated that intelligence departments and law enforcement are currently performing a thorough head count to verify the exact number of missing individuals.

In reaction to the increasing security concerns, the state government has directed the shutting of every schools in the region, with nearby states adopting comparable precautionary steps.

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

President Bola Tinubu has postponed international engagements, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on handling the emergency.

Latest Violent Incidents

The educational institution abductions constitute the most recent in a sequence of safety breaches that have rocked the nation, including an attack on a place of worship in western Nigeria where gunmen killed two individuals and abducted dozens worshipers during a online broadcast service.

These events have occurred against the backdrop of global attention on Nigeria's safety situation.

Historical Context

Nigeria continues to be scarred by the memory of the mass abduction of almost 300 female students by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a ten years ago, with some of those victims still unaccounted for.

Firsthand Accounts

In a disturbing recording circulated by Christian groups, a distraught school staff member described hearing the sounds of bikes and vehicles before hearing "violent banging" on various entrances of the compound.

"Children were weeping," the witness reported, recounting her panic while looking for access to the section where the crying was most intense.

The regional Catholic authority confirmed that the "assailants operated violently and uninterrupted for nearly three hours, moving through dormitories."

Public Response and Fears

At the same time, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried guardians were picking up their students from schools following the closure order.

One mother, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, expressed her shock at the scale of the abduction, questioning how 300 students could be abducted at once.

She concluded that the "government is failing to act to combat insecurity," and voiced approval for external intervention to "resolve this crisis."

Continuing Safety Issues

For years, heavily armed bandit groups have been carrying out murders and kidnappings for money 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 demanding ransom payments frequently attack schools in rural areas where protection is weak.

These gangs maintain camps in extensive woodland areas straddling several states in western Nigeria.

While these criminals have no ideological leanings and are primarily motivated by financial gain, their growing cooperation with jihadist groups from the northeastern region has become a major cause of concern for officials and experts alike.