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Nigeria: 10 more students released, two months after their abduction

Criminals released ten more students who had been abducted two months ago by invading the dormitories of a Baptist school in the northwest Nigeria, said the director of Reuters.

The Reverend John Hayabb, Principal of Bethel Baptist High School, emphasized that another 21 students are still being held hostage. Explain how ransom was paid – he did not specify the amount – to secure the release of the eight students, while two others were released because their health was poor.

In August, the kidnappers released 15 students. In July, 28 were released. The same month, two days after the abduction, a first group of 28 students was released.

On July 5, gunmen stormed boarding school in Tsikun, kidnapping nearly 150 students sleeping in the wards. This is at least the 10th mass kidnapping of students since the end of 2020. Authorities accuse gangs of thugs, generally called bandits – “thugs” or “bandits” – of terrorizing the population of northwestern and central Nigeria. abduction wave it.

“They want more money, so they set them free in groups”, estimated the school principal.

He had recently noted that the kidnappers demand a ransom of 1 million naira (around 2,071 euros) for each student.

Since December, attacks on schools and universities and mass kidnappings of pupils or students for ransom have turned into a scourge in Nigeria. A total of 1,000 pupils and students have been abducted, according to UN estimates. Such kidnappings were originally carried out by Boko Haram and Islamic State (IS) jihadists in West Africa, who were born when the first organization split, but this tactic has now been adopted mainly by gangs.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Thursday that 1 million children in Nigeria could miss the new school year due to rising kidnappings and insecurity.

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