Kidnapping - the New Threat to Education in Nigeria

The growing rate of attacks targeted at schools and the number of kidnapping cases in schools has become a source of concern to many stakeholders in the Nigerian education sector. Bandits hope to make quick cash by forcing the families and authorities to pay ransom money for their hostages. At least 42 learners and teachers were taken from the Government Science College in Kagara. The attack follows another incident at the end of 2020, in which 344 schoolboys were abducted in Katsina, but have since been released. Over 300 schoolgirls have also been taken in Zamfara State and have not yet been released. 

Kidnapping for ransom has become rampant in many parts of Nigeria. The northern part of the country has increasingly become a hub for large criminal gangs who raid villages, killing and abducting residents after looting and torching homes.

InFocus

A young girl writes on a chalkboard at a primary school in Nigeria (file photo).

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