50 Of 303 St Mary’s Abducted Students Escape Captivity – Kontagora Diocese Confirms
In a glimmer of hope amid one of Niger State’s darkest ordeals, 50 of the 303 students abducted from St Mary’s School, Papiri, in Agwara Local Government Area, have found their way back home, exhausted, frightened, but alive.
Their return offers a painful reminder of both the resilience of young survivors and the grim reality of mass abductions that communities in the region have endured for years.
The Catholic Diocese of Kontagora, in an update released on 23rd November 2025 by its Secretary, Rev. Fr. Jatau Luka Joseph, confirmed that the children escaped in batches, trekking for hours through thick bushes before reaching safety.
Many of them were dehydrated and traumatised, but they have since been reunited with their families.
Preliminary records had placed the total number of missing persons at 315, comprising 303 pupils and 12 teachers, after armed men stormed the school in large numbers, arriving on motorcycles and vans before whisking away their victims.
The Diocese has now published the verified names of the 50 students who returned home, while assuring parents that efforts to trace and rescue those still in captivity are ongoing. “The Catholic Diocese of Kontagora is grateful to God for the safe return of these students
We remain hopeful and committed to ensuring the safe recovery of any child still in captivity,” the statement read.
Parents and community leaders in Agwara LGA have renewed calls for a stronger security presence, describing the recurring abductions as “a nightmare no family should experience.”
The region, straddling the Niger, Kaduna-Kebbi axis, has suffered repeated attacks from armed groups taking advantage of difficult terrain and limited security deployment.
Security agencies have yet to issue an official update on rescue operations or the exact number of victims still missing.
More information is expected as joint efforts to track the attackers and recover the remaining children intensify.
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