In brief
A group of 24 schoolgirls abducted from their boarding school in Kebbi State, Nigeria, have been successfully released over a week after their capture. The girls were taken on November 17 during a violent raid that left two staff members dead. President Bola Tinubu commended the security forces for their swift response, though details surrounding the circumstances of the release remain unclear. This incident is part of a troubling trend in Nigeria, where school abductions have surged in recent years, pointing to a worsening security crisis.
A group of 24 Nigerian girls who were abducted from their boarding school over a week ago have been released, the country's president said.
Armed assailants stormed the school in Nigeria's Kebbi State on 17 November, killing two members of staff and abducting about 25 students. Two were able to escape soon after.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu praised security forces for their swift response to the incident - although the circumstances of the girls' release remained unclear.
Africa's most populous nation has suffered a spate of abductions in recent years - with more than 250 children abducted from a Catholic school last Friday still missing.
In a statement, a special adviser to the president confirmed that all the girls taken from the school in Kebbi State had been accounted for, saying that the raid had triggered copycat kidnappings in two neighbouring Nigerian states.
Tinubu said that more personnel would be deployed to vulnerable areas to avert further incidents of kidnapping.
In a separate post on X, Tinubu wrote: The Air Force is to maintain continuous surveillance over the most remote areas, synchronising operations with ground units to effectively identify, isolate, disrupt, and neutralise all hostile elements.
More than 1,500 children have been abducted from Nigerian schools since 2014, when 276 girls were abducted during the infamous Chibok mass abduction.
On Friday, at least 300 children and staff were abducted from St Mary's School, a Catholic boarding school, in Niger state, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria, which says that at least 250 remain unaccounted for.
However, some Nigerian officials have suggested that the number of those kidnapped may be lower.
The main Catholic cleric in the region has told the BBC that Nigeria's government is making no meaningful effort to rescue those still missing.
The abduction at the school was the third to hit Nigeria in a week, forcing President Bola Tinubu to cancel his trip to the G20 summit, held in South Africa at the weekend, to deal with the crisis.
UN education envoy Gordon Brown called on the international community to do our utmost to support efforts to return the abducted children, stressing the need for Nigerian schools to be safe spaces for learning.
