Overview
- The Christian Association of Nigeria reported that roughly 303 children and 12 staff were abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, with about 50 children later escaping.
- President Bola Tinubu said 24 girls taken from a government school in Kebbi State were freed and pledged to deploy additional security forces to vulnerable areas.
- The governor of Kwara State announced the release of 38 worshippers who were kidnapped from a church in Eruku.
- Authorities ordered the temporary closure of roughly 47–50 boarding schools as a protective measure following the spate of abductions.
- No group has claimed responsibility; security analysts point to profit-motivated banditry and a surge to more than 4,700 kidnappings and 670 deaths in the past year as the World Food Programme warns of worsening hunger conditions.