A senior Catholic cleric in Nigeria has strongly criticised the government for what he describes as a lack of meaningful action to rescue more than 250 schoolchildren abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic boarding school in Papiri, Niger State. Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna told the BBC that, so far, authorities have done little beyond compiling a list of the missing students.
His comments were sharply rejected by the Niger State police chief, who insisted that the school had failed to fully cooperate with ongoing search-and-rescue efforts. It remains unclear who carried out the mass abduction, though criminal gangs involved in ransom kidnappings are active across large parts of Nigeria.
The kidnapping has drawn international attention, especially after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that the U.S. might intervene militarily if Nigeria fails to curb the killing of Christians. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has both large Christian and Muslim communities, and its government insists that people of all faiths are suffering from the country’s widespread insecurity.
Militant Islamist groups continue to stage attacks in the northeast, where a senior army general was recently ambushed and killed in Borno State. U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth met with Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, last week to discuss tackling jihadist groups and reducing violence against Christian communities. According to U.S. officials, both sides agreed to form a joint working group to strengthen security cooperation.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Niger State reports that 303 students and 12 staff members were taken, though roughly 50 children managed to escape and have been reunited with their families. Bishop Yohanna, who also leads the local CAN chapter, said claims that the church ignored orders to close the school ahead of the attack were false.
Despite police assurances that sufficient officers were deployed, BBC reporters only saw three officers at the school and just one checkpoint along the 60km route to Papiri. The police commissioner maintained that tactical teams were stationed nearby and may have left temporarily when journalists visited.
Nigeria’s national police chief, Kayode Egbetokun, said intelligence-driven operations have been intensified and promised that every effort will be made to free the remaining captives unharmed.
The abduction in Papiri is the third major kidnapping in Nigeria within a week, prompting President Bola Tinubu to cancel his trip to the G20 summit in South Africa. The presidency confirmed that 24 girls kidnapped from a school in Kebbi State have since been freed, as well as 38 worshippers abducted from a church in Kwara State — though details of how they were released were not provided.
The surge in kidnappings has forced many boarding schools across the country to shut down, with parents rushing to withdraw children. Authorities in Lagos have increased security at schools, worship centres, and other key facilities in response to growing fears of further attacks.