In yet another attack on a school, gunmen have taken a yet-to-be-revealed number of students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Mando Igabi Local Government Area, Kaduna, Northwest Nigeria.
The attack on the school happened at about 3am on Friday morning with the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Jalige confirming the incident.
Jalige said rescue operations have already commenced. He said the number of kidnapped students is yet to be known and also added that he’s unsure if all of the kidnapped students are females.
Kidnap for Ransom – A Booming Business
The latest abduction is one of other high profile abudctions seen in Nigeria in the last four months. In December 2020, at least 333 students were kidnapped from their hostels in the Government Science Secondary School Kankara, Katsina State, Northwest Nigeria.
In 2021 alone, Nigeria has had at least two school abductions namely; the kidnap of 317 students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara State and the kidnap of 42 people including staff and students of the Government Science Secondary School, Kagara, Niger State, North Central Nigeria.
Usually, State governments have been reported to pay a ransom to the kidnappers who security experts have revealed to be subsidiaries of terrorist organisations. The federal government has said it won’t negotiate with terrorists but the stance of the state governors has caused a bit of an uproar in the West African nation.
Families and travellers are also under immense security pressures as abduction in homes and on roads are also very prominent in Northern Nigeria.