The United Nations on Tuesday strongly condemned the recent surge in mass k!dnappings across north-central Nigeria, calling on the Federal Government to take urgent and decisive action to halt the attacks and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan expressed alarm at the situation.
“We are shocked at the recent surge in mass abductions in north-central Nigeria,” Al-Kheetan stated. “We urge the Nigerian authorities at all levels to take all lawful measures to ensure such vile attacks are halted and to hold those responsible to account.”
The statement comes amid a renewed national debate over Nigeria’s persistent security crisis, which has been intensified by the abduction of hundreds of citizens, including nearly 350 schoolchildren, in just a few days.
Al-Kheetan confirmed that “At least 402 people, most of them schoolchildren, have been abducted in the states of Niger, Kebbi, Kwara and Borno since 17 November.”
He noted that “only 88 of them have reportedly been freed or have escaped from their captors.”
The UN called on the Nigerian authorities to prioritize the safe return of all those still in captivity to their families and to take proactive steps to prevent further abductions. Furthermore, it demanded that the government conduct “prompt, impartial and effective investigations into abductions and bring those responsible to justice.”
Mounting security fears have already forced a wave of school closures across various parts of the country. For instance, the national education ministry has ordered 47 boarding secondary schools across the country to shut down.
Nigeria has struggled with a spate of mass kidnappings, mostly carried out by criminal gangs seeking ransom, since the infamous abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls from Chibok town over a decade ago. Borno State, mentioned in the abductions, remains the epicenter of a long-running Islamist insurgency.