By Aishah Adesile

In northern Nigeria, the word “school” now comes with a second meaning: target.

Over the last 5 years, armed bandits have turned kidnapping students into a business. From Zamfara to Kaduna, Niger to Kwara, gunmen storm schools and highways, take students, and demand millions in ransom.

What the numbers look like

Since December 2020, criminal gangs have abducted more than 1,000 students in mass school raids. Around 150 students were taken in one raid on Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna. Parents said they sold property to pay ransom, but kidnappers still held others.

The human stories: In Zamfara, a woman identified as Aisha said bandits forced her to bury her three children after they died in captivity. They threw a spade at me, and I buried my son myself. She spent six months and five days in the forest with hunger and beatings.

In 2023, four female students from Zamfara appeared in a video begging the government to rescue them after 174 days in captivity. Bandits threatened to marry them off if a 12 million naira ransom wasn’t paid.

In Kwara, a student named Mohammed Aishat was kidnapped on June 1, 2026, after bandits killed her father. Student leaders called for urgent rescue. In Dapchi, 13-year-old Aisha was taken on February 19, 2018, a day after she returned to school from illness. Her family said: We are having sleepless nights and smiles have been stolen from our faces.

Why schools?

Zamfara, Katsina, and Sokoto remain major flashpoints of banditry where communities suffer abductions, attacks, and illegal levies. Schools are targeted because they hold large groups.

What people are asking for

Parents, student bodies, and communities keep calling for more security around schools, faster rescue operations, and support for victims. Until classrooms are safe, learning stops.

Tribune Online, Leadership, Pulse Nigeria