Families of students abducted from St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, northern Nigeria, have criticized authorities for failing to provide protection, leaving children vulnerable to one of the country’s largest school kidnappings in recent years.
“Neither the police, nor the military nor the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps responded to our demands,” said Dauda Gwanja, whose 15-year-old son Zakariya is among the more than 300 pupils kidnapped on Friday.
Villagers had arranged for local volunteers to guard the school, but when dozens of armed gunmen on motorbikes stormed the campus, the unarmed guards fled, recognizing they could not resist, Gwanja told Reuters.
The attack has intensified scrutiny of President Bola Tinubu’s security record. While his administration has earned praise from rating agencies for economic reforms, armed kidnappings and attacks have continued almost daily, despite promises to recruit and better equip police and military personnel.
Remote areas like Papiri, located 6 kilometers from the nearest police outpost and four hours from the closest town, remain highly vulnerable to criminal gangs who routinely target schools for ransom. While insurgent attacks in Nigeria’s northeast have reportedly declined in recent months, militants continue to employ drones and heavy weaponry to overrun army bases.
The St Mary’s abduction, which also saw 12 staff members taken, surpasses even the infamous 2014 Chibok kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in scale. It was the third mass abduction in northern Nigeria within days, following attacks on another school and a church.
In response, Tinubu canceled two planned foreign trips and ordered security forces to pursue the assailants. On Sunday, the 73-year-old president directed redeployment of tens of thousands of officers previously assigned to protect VIPs, emphasizing the protection of ordinary citizens. He also pledged to recruit 30,000 additional policemen to combat the spread of armed gangs across isolated communities.
However, nearly 50 schools remain closed in northern Nigeria over fears of further attacks, highlighting the government’s limited capacity to swiftly stem the wave of kidnappings.
Agora Policy, a Nigerian think tank advocating for police reform, noted that more than 100,000 officers—over a quarter of Nigeria’s police force—are currently assigned to guarding VIPs and politicians.
“We should take this resurgence [in attacks] as an opportunity to embark on the root-and-branch reforms that we have left undone for so long,” said Waziri Adio, head of Agora Policy, calling for increased recruitment, better training, pay, and equipment for police.
Current pay for low-ranking officers is roughly 80,000 naira ($55) per month, with additional handouts when attached to VIPs. Military personnel receive higher pay—army privates earn 114,000 naira ($78.50), rising to 200,000 naira on front-line deployment—but often complain of fatigue and irregular allowances, according to retired army officer and security analyst Mike Kebonkwu.
Security experts highlight that Nigerian forces face adversaries who are highly mobile and familiar with local terrain, with bandits hiding in dense forests with hostages.
Recent incidents have exposed intelligence failures. In Kebbi state, 25 girls were abducted from a boarding school shortly after soldiers, who had been deployed following an alert about a potential attack, withdrew in the early hours of November 17. Gunmen killed the vice principal during the raid.
“We ask the military authority to investigate and determine who gave the order [to withdraw troops],” state governor Nasir Idris said.
A few days prior, a Nigerian brigadier-general in Borno state was killed after being tracked by militants from the Islamic State West Africa Province, raising concerns of leaked operational information, according to army sources.
The Nigerian military has not provided comments on either incident.
($1 = 1,452.63 naira)
