The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Monday has condemned the killing and mass abduction of Nigerians in a series of attacks across the country, aligning itself with United Nations calls for urgent action to protect civilians and secure schools from armed groups.

The NBA’s reaction followed the abduction of 315 people in Niger State, including 303 pupils and 12 teachers seized from St Mary’s Catholic School during a morning raid.

The incident occurred just days after gunmen attacked a secondary school in neighbouring Kebbi State, underscoring what security analysts describe as a deepening pattern of organised violence in the region.

In a statement titled “Abduction of 315 Students and Teachers in Niger State: A National Tragedy That Demands Immediate Action,” NBA president Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, said the attack exposed the state’s continuing inability to protect its most vulnerable citizens.

He warned that the scale and frequency of mass abductions risked eroding public confidence in the country’s security institutions.

“That hundreds of children and teachers could be seized and moved without immediate interception is an indictment of our national security framework,” Osigwe said.

He also added that communities were traumatised and families left in anguish as authorities struggled to provide details on the victims’ whereabouts.

The NBA said it supported the UN’s repeated appeals for Nigeria to fully implement the Safe Schools Declaration, which the government endorsed in 2015.

The global pledge commits signatory states to safeguard educational facilities during conflict and prevent the militarisation of learning environments.

The association urged the federal government to adopt a more assertive security strategy, calling for immediate rescue operations with regular public briefings, compulsory armed protection for schools in vulnerable regions, and the accelerated rollout of the National Safe Schools Initiative.

NBA also pressed for thorough investigations leading to the prosecution of attackers, financiers and arms suppliers, alongside a nationwide audit of school security systems to establish binding safety standards.

Osigwe said Nigeria risked becoming one of the most dangerous places in the world for children to learn if the authorities failed to treat school protection as a national emergency.

“Silence or delayed action at a moment like this is not neutrality; it is complicity,” he said.

Mass abductions for ransom have escalated across Nigeria’s northwest and central states since the 2014 seizure of more than 270 schoolgirls in Chibok by Boko Haram.

Despite intensified military operations, armed groups continue to raid rural communities, attack transport routes and target schools, often operating with impunity. Hundreds of kidnapped students across various states remain unaccounted for.

UN agencies say the consequences for education are severe. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), more than 1,600 Nigerian students have been abducted since January 2024, forcing dozens of schools to shut and disrupting learning for thousands of children, particularly girls.