Hundreds of Kidnapped Nigerian Schoolchildren Set to Reunite with Families

By : Mweru Mbugua 

Around 100 schoolchildren who were kidnapped from a Catholic school last month in one of Nigeria’s largest mass abductions are set to reunite with their families on Tuesday, officials confirmed

The children, held for more than two weeks by armed gangs, were released after government intervention in Abuja and handed over to the local authorities in Minna, the capital of Niger State, on Monday

Escorted under heavy security, the children were taken on a day-long journey to their remote village in Papiri

“This morning, the children were escorted to Kontagora, about three hours from Papiri,” Daniel Atori, a spokesperson for the church association that owns the school, told AFP. “They will be taken to Papiri where they will finally reunite with their families”

The attack on the school comes amid a surge in mass abductions in Nigeria, reminiscent of the notorious 2014 Boko Haram kidnapping of schoolgirls in Chibok

In late November, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) reported that 315 students and staff were abducted from St. Mary’s co-educational boarding school in north-central Niger State

Authorities have not disclosed any arrests or detailed how the children mostly aged between 10 and 17 were released

Also read : DCI Arrests Man for Scamming Online Holiday Seekers in Mombasa

While some 50 children escaped immediately after the attack, about 165 remained in captivity following Monday’s release, though President Bola Tinubu’s office put the figure at 115

Concerns have been raised by an international charity that the children were returned to their village before receiving mental health and medical evaluations

The state government had previously stated that all children would undergo medical tests before being reunited with their families