A US senator from Idaho, Jim Risch, says the Nigerian government has consistently fallen short in preventing schoolchildren from being seized by jihadist and criminal groups.
In a post on X, the lawmaker who chairs the US senate foreign relations committee noted that students — especially schoolgirls — continue to face significant threats of “enslavement, conversion, and ransom”.
“Nigeria has long failed to protect its schoolchildren from jihadist and criminal abductions, and little has changed,” he wrote.
“As the U.S. engages the Nigerian government on the persecution of its most vulnerable citizens, we will continue to hold them accountable.”
His remarks follow a series of recent attacks and kidnappings in the country.
On Monday, gunmen stormed Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi state, abducting 25 female students.
Hassan Makuku, the school’s vice principal, was killed during the attack, while Ali Shehu, a security guard, suffered gunshot wounds to his right hand.
Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi, spokesperson of the Kebbi police command, said the attackers were “armed with sophisticated weapons”.
President Bola Tinubu said the abduction occurred despite earlier “intelligence warnings of a possible attack by bandits”.
Condemning the security lapse, the president urged communities — particularly those in vulnerable regions — to provide timely information and intelligence to the military, police, and the Department of State Services (DSS).
US President Donald Trump has threatened military intervention in Nigeria “if the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians”.
The Tinubu administration has repeatedly dismissed US allegations of targeted attacks on Christians in the country.