Religious violence is a phenomenon that has lasted decades in Nigeria. Two weeks ago, one of the worst school kidnappings in the country took place, at a Catholic boarding school. More than 250 children remain missing. Parents are desperate for news about their children.
Two brothers, a nine-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy were both kidnapped when they were at school in Northern Nigeria. About two weeks ago, more than 300 children were kidnapped and 50 managed to escape within hours of the attack.
Since then, there has been no news of other children, nor of the 12 employees of the Catholic boarding schoolwho are also missing. The data is from the Christian Association of Nigeria. Security at the boarding school was the responsibility of unarmed volunteer guards, who fled when the attackers arrived.
The attack occurs at a time when the country is under scrutiny from the president of the United Statesfor alleged mistreatment of Christians. The national security adviser assured local Catholic leaders that the children are safe.
This is one of Worst mass kidnappings since 2014 abductionwhen a terrorist group kidnapped more than 300 girls of a secondary school. But many more attacks followed.
A states that children’s education is at risk. After the last attack, more than 20 thousand schools were closed. According to United Nations data, Nigeria has 20 million children without schoolingthe majority in the north of the country, partly due to the parents’ fear of kidnappings.
