Nigeria : More kidnappings are feared as state body prepares intervention measures

Nigeria’s federal government has reportedly listed schools in 14 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as at risk of attacks by bandits and insurgents.

Local media cited the national coordinator of state-run Financing Safe Schools.

If coordinator Hajia Halima Iliya didn’t name specific states on Sunday, newspaper The Punch reports that most of the 14 states are in Nigeria’s North and east.

The Financing Safe Schools national coordinator also said that the agency had collected data to guide intervention measures.

On March 7, — Gunmen kidnapped 287 students in the Kaduna State town of Kuriga, in north central Nigeria.

Armed men broke into a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso village in Sokoto State, noth western Nigeria, on March 9, and seized 15 children.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said on March 8th that he directed security and intelligence agencies to rescue the victims and ensure that justice is served against the perpetrators.

Since the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram fighters in 2014 almost a decade ago, the number of students abducted has reportedly risen to more than 1,400.