More than one week after gunmen stormed St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri, Niger State, 265 teachers and pupils remain unaccounted for, marking one of the most troubling mass kidnappings in the North-Central region in recent years.
The Catholic Bishop of Kontagora, Bulus Yohanna, disclosed the fresh headcount on Friday, November 28, during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, confirming that 12 teachers and 253 schoolchildren are still listed as missing under the Kontagora Diocese records.
Naijaonpoint reports that the attack joined the latest in a growing series of abductions involving schoolchildren in the North-Central, reviving painful memories of mass kidnappings that have long harrowed communities across the region.
Narrating how the diocese tracked escapees after the attack, Yohanna said an initial 315 teachers and schoolchildren were declared missing, following a verified headcount at the kidnapping scene.
“We had 303 pupils and students missing and 12 teachers also not seen. We added that number to make it 315 that cannot be accounted for after taking the headcount,” the Bishop revealed.
He explained that some hostages escaped and later reconnected with their families, prompting the diocese to reconduct its tally based on verified phone confirmations from parents.
“Those that escaped went back home to their villages,” he said.
“When we started having calls of those that reunited with their parents, we were able to get 50 out of the 315, including staff and teachers who could not be accounted for. We deducted that number so we now have 265 as of now, that is the number that is missing.”
Yohanna confirmed that the diocese has formally submitted the verified names of the missing teachers and children to Niger State Governor, Umar Bago, for state-level rescue coordination and tracking.
The Bishop further disclosed that shock from the incident has claimed the lives of two parents, adding a tragic layer to the distress faced by families still awaiting updates.
The gunmen were said to have seized more than 300 children and staff from the Catholic-owned institutions, including victims as young as nursery-school age, some barely out of nursery classes.
CAN Demands School Security Reinforcement
Yohanna, who also chairs the Niger State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, appealed for the immediate deployment of security agents to schools and community institutions across Niger State.
He asked the Federal Government to scale up proactive school protection, particularly for vulnerable rural communities with limited policing depth.
“Forwarded names for action, not politics,” he stressed, while pleading for urgent intervention.
Reacting to the abduction crisis, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Thursday, declared a state-backed manhunt for the perpetrators, ordering national security agencies to track, disrupt and rescue all persons still in captivity across the country.
The president reaffirmed that Nigeria’s territory will not be ceded to terrorists under his watch and ordered immediate action for rescue, disruption and arrest.
Naijaonpoint reports that in the same week, 25 schoolgirls were abducted from another institution, while 38 worshippers were seized from a church in Kebbi and Kwara States, a broad wave of simultaneous attacks that prompted Tinubu to categorise national security as a national emergency priority.
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