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Officials in Nigeria have secured the release of one hundred abducted students captured by gunmen from a educational institution the previous month, as stated by a source within the UN and regional news outlets this past Sunday. Nevertheless, the whereabouts of an additional one hundred and sixty-five individuals thought to continue being in captivity remained unclear.

Background

Last month, 315 students and staff were kidnapped from St Mary’s mixed boarding school in north-central Niger state, as the country faced a series of mass abductions echoing the notorious 2014 Boko Haram kidnapping of schoolgirls in Chibok.

Some fifty got away soon after, leaving 265 believed to be under kidnappers' control.

The Release

The 100 students are due to be transferred to state authorities on Monday, according to the UN official.

“They will be transferred to Niger state government on Monday,” the individual informed AFP.

Regional reports also reported that the release of the hostages had been achieved, but did not provide details on if it was achieved via talks or military force, and no details on the situation of the still-missing hostages.

The liberation of the 100 children was confirmed to the press by presidential spokesman Sunday Dare.

Reaction

“We have been anxiously awaiting for their safe arrival, if it is true then it is a cheering news,” said a representative, representing the local diocese of the religious authority which operates the school.

“Nevertheless, we are not formally informed and have lacked official communication by the government.”

Wider Crisis

While abductions for money are widespread in the nation as a method for gangs and militants to generate revenue, in a wave of mass abductions in last month, scores of individuals were taken, placing an uncomfortable attention on Nigeria’s already grim security situation.

The nation faces a long-running jihadist insurgency in the northeastern region, while armed bandit gangs conduct kidnappings and plunder communities in the northwestern region, and disputes between farmers and herders concerning scarce farmland continue in the country’s centre.

On a smaller scale, armed groups associated with secessionist agendas also are active in the country’s volatile south-east.

The Chibok Shadow

One of the earliest large-scale abductions that drew international attention was in 2014, when about three hundred female students were abducted from their boarding school in the north-eastern town of Chibok by Boko Haram jihadists.

Ten years on, the country's hostage-taking problem has “become a organized, profit-seeking industry” that collected approximately a significant sum between a recent twelve-month period, stated in a analysis by a Nigerian consultancy.