More than a week after gunmen abducted dozens of students from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools, Papiri, in Niger State, a total of 265 teachers and children remain missing.
The update was provided by the Catholic Bishop of Kontagora, Bulus Yohanna, during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday.
Bishop Yohanna explained that the number includes 12 teachers and 253 pupils, and confirmed that the diocese has submitted the names of the hostages to Niger State Governor Umar Bago.
“We had 303 pupils and students missing and 12 teachers also not seen. We added that number to make it 315 that cannot be accounted for after taking the headcount,” the bishop said.
He added, “Those that escaped went back home to their villages. When we started having calls of those that reunited with their parents, we were able to get 50 out of the 315, including staff and teachers who could not be accounted for, we deducted that number so we now have 265 as of now, that is the number that is missing.”
Yohanna, who also serves as chairman of the Niger State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), urged the Federal Government to deploy security personnel to protect schools in the North-Central region.
The bishop said the abduction has caused deep distress among parents, noting that two parents have died from shock following the incident.
He appealed to both federal and state authorities to secure the students and teachers still in captivity.
The armed gang reportedly kidnapped more than 300 children from the Catholic institution, marking a renewed wave of mass abductions that have long plagued Nigeria.
In the same week, 25 schoolgirls were taken from another school, while 38 worshippers were abducted from churches in Kebbi and Kwara States, prompting President Bola Tinubu to declare a national security emergency.
While at least 50 abductees from St. Mary’s managed to escape, many others, including nursery-age children, remain in captivity.
President Tinubu has ordered a manhunt for the perpetrators, pledging the safe recovery of all missing students and others held across the country.
Opposition leaders have criticised the government’s handling of the security situation, with some calling for Tinubu’s resignation amid the repeated deadly attacks.
Nigeria has a long-standing problem with mass kidnappings, primarily carried out by criminal gangs targeting vulnerable rural communities for ransom.
Many captives are released or rescued within weeks or months, though some manage to escape on their own.
The first widely reported mass abduction was the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping in 2014, when Boko Haram abducted 276 girls from dormitories in the northeast. Over a decade later, about 90 of the girls remain missing.
The country continues to face persistent insecurity from “bandit” gangs that raid villages, kill residents, and abduct for ransom.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump threatened military intervention over what he described as targeted attacks on Christians — a claim the Federal Government has rejected.