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The country's government have ensured the liberation of 100 abducted students taken by gunmen from a educational institution in November, as stated by a United Nations official and local media this past Sunday. Nevertheless, the whereabouts of an additional one hundred and sixty-five students and staff believed to continue being in captivity remained uncertain.

The Incident

During November, 315 individuals were abducted from a co-educational boarding school in north-central Niger state, as the country buckled under a wave of large-scale kidnappings similar to the notorious 2014 Boko Haram abduction of female students in a town in north-east Nigeria.

Around fifty managed to flee in the immediate aftermath, resulting in 265 believed to be under kidnappers' control.

The Handover

The one hundred children are due to be handed over to state authorities this Monday, as per the United Nations source.

“They will be handed over to Niger state government tomorrow,” the individual informed AFP.

News outlets also stated that the freeing of 100 children had been achieved, without offering details on whether it was done through dialogue or a security operation, nor on the fate of the still-missing students and staff.

The liberation of the youngsters was confirmed to AFP by a government spokesperson Sunday Dare.

Statements

“We have been anxiously awaiting for their safe arrival, if it is true then it is wonderful development,” said Daniel Atori, representing Bishop Bulus Yohanna of the Kontagora diocese which operates the institution.

“Nevertheless, we are without official confirmation and have not been duly notified by the government.”

Wider Crisis

Though kidnappings for ransom are widespread in the country as a method for illegal actors to fund their activities, in a wave of large-scale kidnappings in last month, hundreds were taken, putting an uncomfortable attention on the country's deteriorating security situation.

The country faces a protracted jihadist insurgency in the north-east, while marauding gangs perpetrate kidnappings and plunder communities in the northwestern region, and clashes between farmers and herders over dwindling farmland continue in the middle belt.

On a smaller scale, militant factions associated with separatist movements also operate in the country’s restive southeastern region.

The Chibok Shadow

Among the most prominent large-scale abductions that attracted international attention was in 2014, when nearly 300 schoolgirls were snatched from their boarding school in the northeastern town of Chibok by insurgents.

Now, Nigeria’s hostage-taking issue has “become a structured, revenue-generating industry” that collected about $$1.66m (£1.24m) between last year, as per a analysis by a Nigerian consultancy.