Hundreds of Nigerian students kidnapped: what we know

Abuja, Nigeria. Outrage is simmering in Nigeria after gunmen kidnapped hundreds of secondary school students, while the government said rescue efforts were under way.

At least 333 students were still missing from the all-boys Government Science Secondary School in northwestern Katsina state after the attack late Friday, local authorities said.

#BringBackOurBoys was trending on social media Monday in reference to a similar hashtag used after the  jihadist group Boko Haram abducted 276 girls in 2014 in Chibok, in northeast Nigeria. 

Angry residents heckled the Katsina state governor during a visit to the area on Saturday, while protesters greeted a government delegation led by Defence Minister Bashir Salihi-Magashi on Sunday. 

Here is what we know so far:

- What happened? -

More than 100 gunmen on motorcycles stormed the rural school north of Kankara town late on Friday, forcing students to flee and hide in the surrounding bush.

A number of boys were able to escape, but many were captured, split into groups and taken away, residents told AFP.

"The school has a population of 839, and so far we are yet to account for 333 students," state governor Aminu Bello Masari said Sunday.

Katsina, President Muhammadu Buhari's home state where he was on a visit during the attack, is among several in the region where criminal armed groups locally known as "bandits" are active.

- Who kidnapped the students? -

Criminals rather than jihadists were likely behind the kidnappings, analysts said.

The two main jihadist groups present in Nigeria, Boko Haram and a splinter group, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP),  are waging an insurgency in the northeast and are thought to have only a minor presence in the northwest.

But concerns have grown of jihadist inroads into the region, especially after fighters claiming to be in the northwest released a propaganda video pledging allegiance to Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau earlier this year.

A third group known as Ansaru, linked to al-Qaeda, is also known to have a sizeable following in the region.

International Crisis Group's senior advisor for Nigeria, Nnamdi Obasi, said "there is yet no certainty about which group was responsible for the raid" but the modus operandi of Friday's attack was "more typical of a criminal group". 

It is unclear how many criminal gangs are active in the region, but raids and kidnappings are often perpetrated by large groups of heavily armed fighters.

Violence across the northwest has killed 8,000 people since 2011 and displaced more than 200,000, some into neighbouring Niger, according to a May 2020 report by the ICG.

- Why were they kidnapped? -

Analysts said the most likely motivation for the abduction was ransom.

Kidnappings have become widespread in Nigeria, largely because of extreme poverty and the proliferation of weapons.

The northwest is considered to have the highest poverty and illiteracy rates in the country. 

"Then, most of them are farmers or herders and you add the pressure of climate change" on scarce resources, said Idayat Hassan, director of the think tank CDD West Africa.

But there are other possible explanations.

"It could also be for extracting concessions from the government... to resume negotiations and then demand an end to military and police operations against them," the ICG's Obasi said.

It could also be to pressure authorities to release arrested members in exchange for the students' release, he said.

- What is the government doing? -

Buhari condemned the attack in a statement, ordering a reinforcement of security at all schools. In Katsina, schools have been shut.

The army said Saturday it had located the "bandits’ enclave", reporting an "exchange of fire in an ongoing operation".

"The forests and neighbouring villages are being searched and parents are being contacted for information about their children," the president's spokesman Garba Shehu added.

Residents in northwest Nigeria live in constant fear of attacks and many want more robust security.

But the army, operating in 33 of Nigeria's 36 states, is stretched thin fighting jihadist groups in the northeast.

Hassan of CDD West believes additional strategies are needed to address the worsening violence, advocating "a holistic approach that goes beyond a military approach, one that includes the creation of jobs, the respect of human rights.

She said military operations on their own "often do not work," urging an understanding of root causes such as unemployment and inequality.