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Officials in Nigeria have ensured the liberation of 100 kidnapped pupils seized by gunmen from a Catholic school in November, per reports from a United Nations official and local media on Sunday. However, the situation of an additional one hundred and sixty-five students and staff thought to remain in captivity remained uncertain.

Background

Last month, three hundred and fifteen students and staff were kidnapped from St Mary’s co-educational residential school in central Niger state, as the country buckled under a series of large-scale kidnappings similar to the notorious 2014 Boko Haram abduction of female students in a town in north-east Nigeria.

Around fifty got away shortly afterward, which left 265 believed to be still held.

Freedom for Some

The a hundred youngsters are due to be handed over to local government officials on Monday, stated by the United Nations source.

“They are scheduled to be released to state authorities on Monday,” the official told a news agency.

Local media also stated that the freeing of 100 children had been achieved, but did not provide specifics on if it was achieved via negotiation or military force, and no details on the situation of the other students and staff.

The freeing of the 100 children was announced to AFP by a government spokesperson Sunday Dare.

Response

“We've been hoping and praying for their safe arrival, should this be accurate then it is a cheering event,” said a representative, representing the local diocese of the religious authority which manages the school.

“Nevertheless, we are not officially aware and have lacked official communication by the national authorities.”

Wider Crisis

While kidnappings for ransom are widespread in the nation as a means for gangs and militants to fund their activities, in a spate of mass abductions in last month, hundreds were abducted, placing an uncomfortable attention on Nigeria’s deteriorating security situation.

The country is grappling with a long-running Islamist militant uprising in the north-east, while armed bandit gangs carry out kidnappings and loot villages in the northwestern region, and clashes between farmers and herders over diminishing land and resources continue in the middle belt.

Furthermore, militant factions associated with secessionist agendas also are active in the country’s restive south-east.

A Dark Legacy

Among the earliest large-scale abductions that attracted worldwide outrage was in 2014, when about 300 schoolgirls were snatched from their school in the north-eastern town of Chibok by the militant group.

Ten years on, the country's kidnap-for-ransom crisis has “evolved into a systematic, profit-seeking enterprise” that generated approximately $1.66 million dollars (£1.24m) between a recent twelve-month period, stated in a study by a Lagos-based research firm.