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Nigerian authorities have obtained the freedom of a hundred kidnapped pupils taken by armed men from a Catholic school last month, according to a United Nations official and local media this past Sunday. However, the whereabouts of another one hundred and sixty-five hostages thought to still be held captive remained uncertain.

Context

During November, three hundred and fifteen individuals were kidnapped from St Mary’s mixed residential school in north-central a Nigerian state, as the country faced a series of mass abductions reminiscent of the infamous 2014 Boko Haram abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok.

Around fifty managed to flee in the immediate aftermath, leaving 265 presumed still held.

Freedom for Some

The 100 students are due to be handed over to Niger state officials on Monday, stated by the United Nations source.

“They are scheduled to be transferred to the government tomorrow,” the official stated to AFP.

Regional reports also confirmed that the freeing of the hostages had been obtained, but did not provide details on if it was achieved via dialogue or military force, and no details on the situation of the remaining hostages.

The liberation of the 100 children was verified to the press by presidential spokesman Sunday Dare.

Statements

“For a long time we were hoping and praying for their return, should this be accurate then it is wonderful event,” said a representative, representing Bishop Bulus Yohanna of the religious authority which runs the school.

“However, we are not officially aware and have not been duly notified by the national authorities.”

Wider Crisis

While kidnappings for ransom are widespread in the nation as a method for gangs and militants to make quick cash, in a wave of large-scale kidnappings in last month, hundreds were seized, putting an uncomfortable spotlight on the country's serious law and order crisis.

The nation confronts a long-running Islamist militant uprising in the northeastern region, while armed bandit gangs conduct abductions and loot villages in the north-west, and disputes between agricultural and pastoral communities regarding dwindling land and resources persist in the middle belt.

Furthermore, militant factions associated with separatist movements also haunt the nation's unsettled south-east.

The Chibok Shadow

Among the earliest mass kidnappings that drew international attention was in 2014, when about three hundred female students were snatched from their boarding school in the northeastern town of Chibok by Boko Haram jihadists.

A decade later, Nigeria’s hostage-taking crisis has “consolidated into a systematic, revenue-generating business” that generated around a significant sum between a recent twelve-month period, according to a analysis by a Lagos-based research firm.