Pope Leo XIV has issued a heartfelt and urgent plea for the immediate release of scores of students and teachers abducted in a fresh wave of attacks targeting educational institutions in Nigeria.
Speaking at the end of a mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, the Pope directly addressed the escalating crisis following the mass kidnapping at St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri, Agwarra Local Government Area of Niger State.
“I was deeply saddened to learn of the kidnappings of priests, faithful, and students in Nigeria and Cameroon. I feel great pain, especially for the many young men and women who have been abducted and for their anguished families,” Pope Leo stated.
He made a “heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of the hostages and urge the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their release.” The Pope also urged Christians globally to pray for Nigeria, expressing hope that “churches and schools may always and everywhere remain places of safety and hope.”
The Pope’s appeal comes amidst a rapidly worsening security situation marked by two devastating mass abductions within a single week.
The latest attack occurred in the early hours of Friday, November 21, when gunmen stormed St. Mary’s Papiri Private Catholic Secondary School in Niger State. Local sources report that a large number of armed men, riding on over 60 motorcycles and accompanied by a van, breached the school perimeter between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., seriously injuring the gatekeeper with gunfire before abducting scores of students and teachers. The state government is yet to officially confirm the number of those taken.
This incident is a chilling echo of the attack that occurred just days earlier. Before dawn on Monday, November 17, armed men breached the fence of Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State, killing the vice principal and a teacher, and abducting 25 schoolgirls. A security guard later died in the hospital from gunshot wounds. Two of the Kebbi victims managed to escape across farmland two days later, though one required medical attention for an injured leg.
The resurgence of mass kidnappings, reminiscent of the Chibok and Dapchi tragedies, has amplified public outrage over the failure to secure vulnerable schools.
Following the Kebbi abduction, the Nigerian Senate on November 19 demanded that President Bola Tinubu launch a full probe into the alleged misuse and poor implementation of the N144.7 billion Safe School Initiative (SSI) funds. The Senate insisted that schools in high-risk zones still lack basic security provisions such as perimeter fences, CCTV, early warning systems, armed patrols, or emergency evacuation plans.
The demands reflect widespread concern that political promises have failed to translate into concrete, on-the-ground protection for children, particularly girls, in vulnerable communities.
In response to the growing security concerns, federal and state governments have moved to shut down schools as an urgent preventive measure.
The Director of Senior Secondary Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, Binta Abdulkadir, directed the immediate closure of all 41 Unity Schools in the country. Simultaneously, the governments of Plateau, Katsina, Taraba, Adamawa, and Niger states directed the immediate closure of all basic schools within their respective jurisdictions between late Friday and early Saturday, citing the critical need to secure students and staff against further attacks.
