THE Kogi State Police Command has confirmed that seven more abducted students of the Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara, Okene, have regained freedom from their captors.
A statement by the state police public relations officer, William Aya, a superintendent of police, on Thursday, May 16, stated that 21 students had been freed with the latest number of those rescued.
However, the number of students abducted has yet to be ascertained by the police.
The students who were reading in the school halls in the night for their upcoming examination were abducted on Thursday, May 9.
Confirming the development on Sunday, May 12, Aya was quoted by The Punch as saying, “So far, 14 of them have been rescued, Our men are in the bush trying to find the rest.”
The bandits reportedly entered from the surrounding bush, entered three lecture halls, and fired shots into the air to intimidate the students.
Meanwhile, Aya on Thursday, credited the release of the students to the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, noting that the IGP had deployed the air component of the the police security apparatus, as well as the state’s technical intelligence unit to secure the release of the students.
The state Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo had earlier assured of the safe return of the students, adding that the government had “activated the security architecture to track the kidnappers and ensure the abducted students are rescued and the abductors apprehended.”
Abduction of students has become a source of concern in Nigeria, where the number of out-of-school children is very high.
In 2023, The ICIR reported that Nigeria had 19.7 million out-of-school children and was the country globally with the third highest number of children deprived of education according to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 2020 Model Estimates.
On Thursday, March 7, 137 students and their principal were reportedly abducted by terrorists from the LEA Primary School in Kuriga, a community within the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
The incident generated public outcry, with several leaders, including President Bola Tinubu, calling for their immediate release.
Abduction of schoolchildren became common in Nigeria, especially in the North, after nearly 300 students were abducted by terrorists from a school in Chibok, Borno State, in 2014.
Findings by The ICIR show that bandits and terrorist groups have disrupted the Nigerian education system, kidnapping over 1,000 students in the last decade.
Within the past three administrations, the abduction of school children has generated millions in ransom for kidnappers, leaving citizens with no hope of a possible end to the menace.
Student abduction occurs in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
Among the tertiary institutions where students have been whisked away are Federal University Dutsin Ma, Katsina State, in 2023; Federal University, Gusau, in Zamfara State, in 2022, and the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, in 2021.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M