The remaining 130 Nigerian schoolchildren abducted in November from a Catholic school in Niger state have been released, President Bola Tinubu's spokesperson said on Sunday, following one of the country's biggest mass kidnappings of recent years.

Presidential spokesperson Sunday Dare announced the news on X, stating: “Another 130 pupils abducted in Niger State have been released; none remain in captivity.” 

The students are among more than 300 pupils and 12 staff seized by gunmen from St Mary's Catholic boarding school in Papiri village in the early hours of 21 November.

Fifty of the children managed to escape at the time, the Christian Association of Nigeria has previously said, while Nigeria's government said on 8 December that it had managed to rescue 100 of those abducted.

Onanuga said the total of freed students is now 230.

The abduction caused outrage over worsening insecurity in northern Nigeria, where armed gangs frequently target schools for ransom. School kidnappings surged after Boko Haram militants abducted 276 girls from Chibok in 2014.

Mass kidnappings in Nigeria are commonly carried out for ransom, highlighting the country’s ongoing security challenges. Armed groups frequently target schools, particularly in the northern regions.

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• Gunmen kidnap 315 pupils and teachers from Catholic school in Nigeria

Nigeria, with a population of 230 million, continues to face multiple security threats, including jihadist activity in the north-east and armed “bandit” gangs in the north-west, with both Christians and Muslims frequently caught in the violence.

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