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Gunmen have abducted more than 300 pupils and educators in what appears to be the most significant group abductions in modern Nigerian experience, according to a religious organization on the weekend.

Growing Emergency in School Facilities

The early Friday raid on St Mary's co-educational school in western Nigeria occurred just days after armed men invaded a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state, abducting 25 young women.

Initial accounts had suggested 227 individuals were seized, but updated numbers surfaced after a detailed verification exercise confirmed that 303 students and 12 teachers had been abducted.

The abducted children, ranging between eight and 18 years, constitute nearly half of the school's total student body of 629.

Official Response and Security Actions

State officials have announced that intelligence agencies and police are presently conducting a comprehensive head count to determine the exact number of missing individuals.

In reaction to the increasing safety concerns, the local authorities has ordered the shutting of all schools in the state, with neighboring states adopting similar precautionary steps.

Additionally, the federal education ministry has directed the provisional closure of 47 residential high schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has called off overseas commitments, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on handling the emergency.

Recent Security Incidents

The educational institution abductions represent the latest in a sequence of safety incidents that have rocked the nation, including an attack on a place of worship in western Nigeria where assailants killed two individuals and abducted numerous worshipers during a online broadcast service.

These events have occurred against the backdrop of global focus on Nigeria's safety situation.

Historical Context

Nigeria remains scarred by the memory of the large-scale abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a decade ago, with several of those girls still missing.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a disturbing recording circulated by religious groups, a distraught employee recounted hearing the sounds of motorcycles and cars before hearing "forceful banging" on various gates of the school premises.

"Students were weeping," the staff member said, recounting her fear while looking for access to the area where the crying was loudest.

The local Catholic authority confirmed that the "assailants acted aggressively and uninterrupted for nearly three hours, searching dormitories."

Public Reaction and Fears

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried guardians were collecting their children from schools following the shutdown directive.

One parent, a 40-year-old nurse, voiced her disbelief at the magnitude of the abduction, asking how 300 students could be taken at once.

She stated that the "government is failing to act to combat the security crisis," and expressed approval for international assistance to "resolve this situation."

Continuing Safety Issues

For a long time, well-equipped criminal gangs have been carrying out murders and abductions for ransom in remote areas of northern and middle Nigeria, where government control is minimal.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the recent incidents, criminal groups demanding ransom payments often attack schools in countryside locations where protection is inadequate.

These gangs maintain bases in extensive forest areas straddling several states in western Nigeria.

Although these criminals have no ideological leanings and are mainly driven by monetary profit, their increasing alliance with extremist groups from the northeastern region has become a significant source of concern for authorities and experts alike.