By Kingston Magare 22.11.2025
The Christian Association of Nigeria in Niger State has confirmed that 315 kids and teachers were taken away by gunmen who on Friday invaded the St Mary’s School Primary and Secondary School Papiri Agwarra local government.
According to the Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese, Most. Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, who is also CAN chairman Niger State 303 students and 12 teachers were seized and there has been no contact from the gunmen yet.
“After we left the school at Papiri, we decided to make calls, do a verification exercise, and do further enquiries on those we had thought escaped successfully, only to discover that 88 more students were also captured after they tried to escape.
“Our attention was drawn to when some parents whose children we had thought escaped from the attack also came asking about their children. We became curious, and that was when we did a census and discovered that they were abducted.
“This now makes it 303 students (male and female), including 12 teachers (4 females and 8 males), bringing the total number of abducted persons to 315.
“You know social media. If you go there, they will mislead you. Even some of the things that flying around… That’s why we usually make official statement. I am not aware. No contact yet,” Bishop Bulus concluded.
Meanwhile the Federal Government has ordered the immediate closure of 41 Federal Unity Colleges.
The directive was issued through a circular dated November 21, 2025, from the Federal Ministry of Education.
According to the document, the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, approved the shutdown following “recent security challenges” in parts of the country and the need to prevent breaches.
