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Officials in Nigeria have secured the release of a hundred abducted pupils captured by attackers from a Catholic school in November, as stated by a UN source and local media this past Sunday. Nevertheless, the whereabouts of another one hundred and sixty-five hostages believed to continue being under the control of kidnappers stayed uncertain.

The Incident

During November, 315 individuals were taken from St Mary’s co-educational residential school in central a Nigerian state, as the country buckled under a surge of large-scale kidnappings similar to the infamous 2014 Boko Haram abduction of female students in a town in north-east Nigeria.

Around 50 got away soon after, leaving 265 presumed under kidnappers' control.

Freedom for Some

The a hundred students are scheduled to be transferred to local government officials on Monday, as per the United Nations source.

“They are scheduled to be released to the government on Monday,” the individual informed a news agency.

Regional reports also confirmed that the freeing of the hostages had been obtained, without offering details on whether it was achieved via negotiation or armed intervention, nor on the whereabouts of the other students and staff.

The freeing of the 100 children was confirmed to the press by an official representative Sunday Dare.

Statements

“We have been praying and waiting for their release, if it is true then it is wonderful event,” said Daniel Atori, representing the local diocese of the religious authority which runs the school.

“Nevertheless, we are without official confirmation and have not been duly notified by the federal government.”

Broader Context

While hostage-taking for cash are common in the nation as a means for illegal actors to make quick cash, in a wave of large-scale kidnappings in November, many people were seized, placing an uncomfortable focus on Nigeria’s serious security situation.

The country faces a protracted jihadist insurgency in the northeastern region, while marauding gangs carry out abductions and plunder villages in the northwestern region, and clashes between farmers and herders regarding dwindling farmland persist in the country’s centre.

Furthermore, armed groups associated with secessionist agendas also are active in the nation's unsettled southeastern region.

A Dark Legacy

A first mass kidnappings that attracted worldwide outrage was in 2014, when nearly three hundred schoolgirls were snatched from their boarding school in the north-eastern town of Chibok by insurgents.

Ten years on, Nigeria’s kidnap-for-ransom problem has “become a structured, revenue-generating enterprise” that collected around $$1.66m (£1.24m) between last year, stated in a analysis by a Nigerian consultancy.