Trendpills
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has postponed his planned trip to the G20 summit in Brazil to personally oversee the response to the abduction of 24 schoolgirls in the northwestern state of Kebbi. The president has directed security agencies to intensify their efforts and “do whatever it takes” to secure the safe return of the students.
The abduction occurred on the night of November 17, when armed assailants, widely referred to as bandits, raided a government secondary school in the remote village of Kuka. According to state officials and media reports, one of the abducted students managed to escape and has returned home. In response to the crisis, President Tinubu is dispatching a high-level government delegation led by the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, to Kebbi state to coordinate rescue operations and support the local community.
This incident is the latest in a devastating series of mass kidnappings targeting schools in Africa's most populous nation. The crisis gained global attention with the 2014 abduction of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok by the Boko Haram extremist group. While initially associated with jihadist insurgents, the practice of mass kidnappings for ransom has become a lucrative enterprise for various armed criminal gangs operating across the northern regions.
These attacks have created a climate of fear, disrupting education for thousands of children and posing a significant security challenge for the Nigerian government. Despite repeated pledges to crush the armed groups, the abductions continue to plague rural communities. Human rights organizations have noted that since the Chibok incident, at least 1,500 students have been seized in similar raids. President Tinubu's decision to forgo the international summit underscores the gravity of the domestic security situation he inherited and his administration's commitment to tackling it.
