No fewer than 603 students and teachers were abducted in seven major school attacks across Nigeria between March 2024 and May 2026, raising fresh concerns over the implementation of the N144.8 billion Safe Schools Initiative.
No fewer than 603 students and teachers have been kidnapped in seven mass abductions across schools in Nigeria between March 2024 and May 2026, despite the implementation of the N144.8 billion Safe Schools Initiative aimed at protecting learning institutions from attacks. The repeated incidents, recorded across Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kogi, Borno and Oyo states, have renewed concerns over the safety of schools nationwide, with stakeholders blaming weak implementation, inadequate infrastructure and poor security presence. A media tally of major incidents showed that the victims were abducted in coordinated raids by armed groups, while experts warned that the actual figure could be higher when isolated attacks on educational institutions are taken into account.
Among the reported incidents were the abduction of 137 pupils from LEA Primary and Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State, on March 7, 2024, and the kidnapping of 15 students from a Tsangaya school in Sokoto State two days later. In November 2025, 25 schoolgirls were abducted from Maga Comprehensive Girls’ Secondary School in Kebbi State, while gunmen also seized 303 students and 12 teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State, although authorities later announced their rescue. More recently, 23 pupils were abducted from Daarul-Kitab Islamic Orphanage and School in Kogi State, 42 students were kidnapped in Borno State, and 46 students and teachers were taken from three schools in Oyo State in separate attacks recorded in May 2026.
The wave of abductions has drawn attention to the Safe Schools Initiative launched after the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls’ kidnapping. In 2023, the National Coordinator of the programme, Halima Illiya, said: “We have sent an advanced team to the states. We have shortlisted 18 very high-risk states, and we hope to cover, between 2023 and 2026, the entire 36 schools. We are expecting 48 schools from each state. “A National Plan on Financing Safe Schools was developed and launched in December 2022. The National Plan will be implemented between 2023 and 2026, with a total investment size of N144.8bn. “The plan proposes N32.58bn in 2023, N36.98bn in 2023, N37.15bn in 2025, and N38.03bn in 2026, respectively. To this end, the Federal Government has made a provision of N15bn in 2023.” However, a senior official attributed the programme’s challenges to inadequate funding, saying: “You know, we are still talking to the states, and there is still a good response from them. Making the budget is not enough, you can put a budget, but funding becomes an issue. “So, what the Federal Government is doing, we are trying to agree with the states. We are making consultations. We have met with the Nigeria Governors Forum and the Minister of Finance. We are trying to arrive at something meaningful in the interest of the country. Consultations are going on, so many things are happening.”
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