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Armed attackers have kidnapped over 300 schoolchildren and staff in what appears to be the largest collective seizures in recent Nigerian times, as reported by a religious organization on Saturday.

Escalating Crisis in Educational Institutions

The pre-dawn Friday assault on St Mary's mixed-gender school in Niger state happened just days after gunmen stormed a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, taking 25 female students.

Initial reports had stated 227 individuals were seized, but revised figures were released after a thorough assessment established that 303 pupils and 12 educators had been abducted.

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

Official Response and Safety Actions

State authorities have announced that security departments and police are presently conducting a thorough head count to verify the exact number of missing people.

In response to the growing security fears, the local authorities has ordered the shutting of every schools in the region, with nearby states following similar precautionary actions.

Furthermore, the national education ministry has ordered the provisional closure of 47 residential high schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has called off international engagements, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to focus on addressing the situation.

Recent Security Events

The educational institution kidnappings constitute the latest in a series of security incidents that have shaken the country, including an attack on a place of worship in the west of Nigeria where gunmen killed two individuals and seized numerous worshipers during a online broadcast service.

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

Past Context

Nigeria remains scarred by the legacy of the large-scale kidnapping of almost 300 schoolgirls by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a ten years ago, with some of those victims still missing.

Eyewitness Testimonies

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

"Students were screaming," the staff member stated, recounting her terror while searching for keys to the section where the screaming was most intense.

The local Catholic authority stated that the "assailants acted violently and uninterrupted for almost three hours, searching dormitories."

Citizen Reaction and Fears

At the same time, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, concerned guardians were picking up their students from educational institutions following the closure directive.

One parent, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, voiced her shock at the magnitude of the abduction, asking how 300 children could be abducted simultaneously.

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

Continuing Security Issues

For years, heavily armed criminal gangs have been carrying out murders and kidnappings for money in remote areas of northwest and central Nigeria, where government control is limited.

While no group has taken credit for the latest incidents, bandit gangs demanding ransom payments often attack schools in countryside locations where security is inadequate.

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

Although these criminals have no political motives and are mainly driven by monetary profit, their growing cooperation with extremist groups from the north-east has become a significant cause of concern for officials and security analysts alike.