The Nigerian government has identified schools in 14 states and the capital, Abuja, as being susceptible to attacks in the wake of a renewed wave of mass student abductions.
Hajia Halima Iliya, the national coordinator of the state-run Financing Safe Schools in Nigeria, revealed that the agency has gathered data to inform intervention measures.
The agency was established in response to the 2014 kidnapping of hundreds of girls from Chibok in the northeastern Borno state. According to Iliya, the most vulnerable states include Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Benue, Yobe, Katsina, Abuja, Kebbi, Sokoto, Plateau, and Zamfara.
This alarming development coincides with a surge in kidnappings across Nigeria. The situation escalated on Saturday when over a dozen students and four women were abducted from a school in Gada, Sokoto.
Distraught parents of the kidnapped students are appealing to the government for assistance in securing the safe release of their children.
