Five months after the abduction of hundreds of students and staff from LEA Primary and Secondary Schools in Kuriga, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna, the school remains closed, leaving numerous students in the state without access to education.
A recent documentary published by ARTE.tv attributed the prolonged closure of the basic school to fears of another attack by bandits. The community’s apprehension has prevented the reopening of the school since March.
Explaining the continued reluctance to resume classes, one of the kidnapped students, Maryam Illiyasu, stated, “They said if we set foot again, they would come and take us away. By then, we were afraid of ever going back to school.”
Governor Uba Sani, who visited the community immediately after the attack, reported that several students from the Government Secondary School and the local primary school were missing.
On March 24, 2024, Governor Sani confirmed that all 287 students had been rescued unharmed by the authorities. He expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Army for their support.
However, Governor Sani’s statement did not provide details about the actions taken to secure the students’ release, leading to widespread speculation that substantial ransom payments were made to the terrorists.
Sani Abdullahi, a school teacher who narrowly escaped abduction during the attack, recounted, “They came from the main road with different bikes and ammunition around 7:47 am on March 7, 2024. They started kidnapping pupils there. It is easy to kidnap children.”
“They (the terrorists) know that when they kidnap children, it elicits a strong emotional response from the government and society. They do all this just to get money from either the government or the parents,” Abdullahi added.
Sulyman Lawal, another kidnapped student, shared his harrowing experience: “We suffered a lot; they had no mercy on us. We spent 16 days in captivity. God came to our rescue, and they released us when the soldiers arrived and took us home.”
