From Chibok Girls To Gusau Students: Here’s How ‘Bandits’ Abducted Over 1,500 Nigerian Students in Nine Years
For nearly two decades, insecurity has remained one of Nigeria’s most challenging issues, a menace that has outlasted different administrations.
Since 2009, when Boko Haram started in Northern Nigeria, insecurity has insidiously spread across the country. In the North West and North Central, bandits and herders-farmer clashes have prevented farmers from harvesting their farm produce, thereby exacerbating the food inflation the country is currently witnessing. Also, in the once ‘peaceful’ Southeast, activities of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and its armed sister wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), disrupt business activities every Monday, through their sit-at-home order, which has cost the region over N5 trillion ($12 billion) between August 9, 2021 and December 19, 2022.
But amidst these threats to life and property is the direct threat to Nigeria’s educational system, as insurgents have adopted the business of abducting Nigerian students for ransom.
The recent abduction of 24 students from the Federal University of Gusau, in Zamfara State, on Friday, September 22, 2023, is a testament to the pattern being witnessed.
But the country is already witnessing the consequences of these school abductions. In the North West and North East, where these abductions are more prevalent, 463 out of every 1,000 schoolchildren and 461 out of every 1,000 schoolchildren are out of school, respectively.
In 2021, Peter Hawkins, a representative of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in Nigeria, claimed that parents are reluctant to send their children to school for fear of them being kidnapped.
“Learners are being cut off from their education… as families and communities remain fearful of sending children back to their classrooms due to the spate of school attacks and student abductions in Nigeria,” he said.
This trend, which began in 2014 after the abduction of nearly 300 students from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State, has continued with over 1,500 abducted between 2014 and 2021.
Although Channel TV reported that six out of the 24 University students have been rescued, we take a look at five school abductions that shocked Nigerians:
Chibok Girls:
At midnight on April 14, 2014, 278 schoolgirls at Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State were adopted by members of Boko Haram militants.
The abduction of the Chibok girls, between 16-18 years, sparked outrage around the world.
While some claimed that the abduction was politically motivated to remove Goodluck Jonathan from office, terrorists have continued to carry out bizarre attacks in schools.
Dapchi Girls:
On February 19, 2018, 110 schoolgirls between the age of 11–19 years old were kidnapped by Boko Haram from Government Girls’ Science and Technical College (GGSTC) in Dapchi, Yobe State.
Five schoolgirls died on the same day they were abducted.
While the girls were released on March 21, 2018, one girl, Leah Sharibu, is still missing.
Sharibu is believed to be the only Christian among the kidnapped girls.
In 2020 there were reports that Sharibu had given birth to a baby boy after being forcefully converted to Islam and married off to a Boko Haram commander.
Kankara boys:
On December 11, 2020, armed men on motorcycles attacked the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State, and kidnapped more than 300 boys.
While the Nigerian government eventually negotiated the release of the boys on December 17, there were controversies about who their abductors were.
Auwalu Daudawa, in an interview with Daily Trust in February 2021, admitted that he was responsible for the kidnappings.
He was granted amnesty after he ‘repented’ but was allegedly killed in May 2021 after he returned to crimes.
Kagara kidnapping:
Two months after Kankara boys were kidnapped, gunmen invaded Government Science College, Kagara, Niger State.
The armed men attacked the school at around 3 am on February 17, 2021, and abducted 27 schoolchildren.
Four days after the abduction, a military plane on its way to rescue the abductees crashed, killing all seven people on board.
The abductees were released on February 27, after several reports alleged that ransom was paid.
Jangebe Girls:
On February 26, 2021, a day before the release of the Kagara students, gunmen invaded Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State, and abducted over 270 girls.
Former President Buhari called the abduction “inhumane and totally unacceptable.”
The schoolgirls were released on March 2, 2021.
With one in every five of the world’s out-of-school children being Nigerian, there is an urgent need to address the incessant abductions.
Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait, a UN-backed initiative, said that children and teachers are still being targeted in violent attacks.
“Children and teachers are being targeted in violent attacks. Killings, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, abduction, and child recruitment are putting girls and boys at extreme risk. Education is not only every child’s right, but the protection it provides is also all too often life-saving,” he said.
