Bishop Criticizes Nigeria's Inaction on School Abduction Crisis

Wed Nov 26 2025 13:58:35 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Catholic Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna calls out Nigeria's government for lack of meaningful efforts to rescue over 250 abducted children from a boarding school in Niger state, while police dispute the claims of negligence.

In a recent statement, the main Catholic bishop in Nigeria's Niger state criticized the government's inadequate response to the abduction of over 250 children from St Mary's boarding school in Papiri village. Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna called for immediate action, stating that the government has made no meaningful efforts to rescue the students. This accusation is met with pushback from local police, who claim the church has not cooperated with ongoing rescue operations. Amid rising concerns over security, the monitoring of school safety continues as the country grapples with an alarming trend of kidnappings.

Nigeria's government is making no meaningful effort to rescue more than 250 children abducted from a Catholic boarding school in the central state of Niger last Friday, the main Catholic cleric in the region has told the BBC.

But Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna's accusation was disputed by the state's police chief, who accused the school of failing to co-operate with its search and rescue operations.

It is unclear who abducted the children from St Mary's school in Papiri village, but criminal gangs have been involved in kidnappings for ransom across Nigeria.

US President Trump has threatened to intervene militarily in Nigeria if the government fails to stop the killing of Christians.

Nigeria is the most-populous state in Africa, with a large Christian and Muslim population. Its government says that people of all faiths and no faith are victims of insecurity in the country.

Militant Islamist groups are also waging an insurgency in Nigeria, with the government confirming last week that a senior army general had been killed by jihadists in an ambush in north-eastern Borno state.

The Niger state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) states that 303 students and 12 staff members were abducted from the school, but 50 children escaped and have since reunited with their families.

Bishop Yohanna, who is also the chairman of the Niger chapter of CAN, says the only official action taken so far to rescue the students had involved compiling their names.

Authorities have reported upticks in police deployments; however, eyewitness accounts raise questions about police visibility and readiness in the area.

This abduction is part of a larger trend that has caused many parents to withdraw their children from boarding schools due to fears for their safety.