Twenty-four students abducted from Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi State, have been released after spending seven days in captivity.

The students were taken on 17 November when armed men entered the school in the early hours, shortly after a military detachment had withdrawn from the area. The incident prompted wide public concern over renewed threats to school safety across the North-West.

In a statement on Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu confirmed the return of the students and acknowledged the role of security agencies in securing their release.

“I am relieved that all 24 girls have been accounted for. Now, we must put as a matter of urgency more boots on the ground in the vulnerable areas to avert further incidents of kidnapping. My government will offer all the assistance needed to achieve this,” he said.

The abduction occurred amid continuing concerns about mass kidnappings in schools, a trend that has persisted since the 2014 Chibok incident and forced several states—including Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina and Niger—to close schools in high-risk locations.

While efforts were ongoing to locate the abducted Kebbi schoolgirls, armed men on 21 November attacked St. Mary’s Papiri Private Catholic Secondary School in Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State, seizing students and teachers during an operation that residents said occurred between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m.

A 2023 report by Save the Children noted that more than 1,680 students and teachers have been kidnapped from schools across Nigeria since 2014, most of them in northern states.

The release of the Kebbi schoolgirls follows the return of 38 worshippers abducted during an attack on Christ Apostolic Church Oke Isegun in Eruku, Kwara State.

They were freed on Sunday after a joint security operation that ended a five-day search and came after the attack left three worshippers dead.