Nigerian authorities have secured the release of 100 schoolchildren abducted from a Catholic boarding school last month, according to a UN source and local media.
The children were taken with more than 200 others when gunmen raided St. Mary’s co-educational school in Niger state in late November.
Around 50 hostages escaped shortly after the attack, leaving 265 believed to be held in captivity as security forces launched a nationwide search.
The newly freed children arrived in Abuja on Sunday and are expected to be handed over to Niger state officials on Monday, the UN source said.
Presidential spokesman Sunday Dare confirmed the release, though authorities have not disclosed whether negotiations or military pressure secured the children’s freedom.
Local church representatives welcomed the reports but said they had yet to receive formal notification from the federal government.
The abduction has deepened concerns over Nigeria’s worsening security environment, where kidnappings for ransom have evolved into a lucrative criminal enterprise.
Armed groups continue to target schools, villages and religious gatherings, with November alone seeing the abduction of Muslim schoolgirls, church worshippers, farmers and wedding parties across multiple states.
The perpetrators of the St. Mary’s kidnapping remain unidentified, though the attack echoes earlier mass abductions, including Boko Haram’s 2014 seizure of nearly 300 schoolgirls in Chibok.
The wave of kidnappings comes as Nigeria faces heightened diplomatic pressure from the United States, where President Donald Trump has accused the country of allowing “genocide” against Christians and threatened military intervention.
Nigerian officials and analysts reject those claims, stressing that the country of 230 million faces overlapping conflicts in which both Christians and Muslims suffer violence.
Security experts warn that Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis has become an entrenched industry, generating more than $1.6 million over the past year, according to Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence.
Some analysts fear Trump’s warnings may embolden armed groups, while others suggest captors may now view hostages as potential human shields against possible US airstrikes.
