Nigeria’s government on Monday rescued 100 schoolchildren abducted last month from a Catholic school in Niger state, in one of the country’s biggest mass kidnappings in recent years.

The students arrived at the government house in Niger’s capital Minna and were handed over to the state governor.

President Bola Tinubu welcomed the rescue.

“My directive to our security forces remains that all the students and other abducted Nigerians across the country must be rescued and brought back home safely. We must account for all the victims,” he said.

Tinubu and Nigerian government officials did not comment publicly on how the rescue was conducted, and it was unclear whether the children had been freed through negotiations, ransom payments or a security operation.

One of the children, Florence Michael, said the children slept on a tarpaulin in the forest.

“They gave us tarpaulin, that we should put it down, that we should lie down and sleep, that we should not make noise for them,” she said.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said gunmen seized more than 300 pupils and 12 staff from St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri village on Nov. 21. Fifty of the children managed to escape, CAN said.

Parents Anguish at Lack of Information

After news of the rescue, many parents expressed anguish at the lack of information from authorities on whether their children were among those freed.

Some of the abducted children were as young as six.

“I just saw the news on social media,” said Yunusa Kabukaya, whose 11-year-old daughter Magret was among more than 300 pupils and 12 staff seized from St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri village on November 21.

“Nobody has contacted me, but I’m desperate to know if my daughter is among the rescued students.”

‘Children Should Not Be Sitting Ducks for Terrorists’

The abduction caused outrage over worsening insecurity in northern Nigeria, where armed gangs frequently target schools for ransom. School kidnappings surged after Boko Haram militants abducted 276 girls from Chibok in 2014.

Tinubu said security forces should prevent future abductions, which have forced hundreds of schools to close in northern Nigeria.

“Our children should no longer be sitting ducks for heartless terrorists intent on disrupting their education and subjecting them and their parents to unspeakable trauma,” said Tinubu.

Nigeria and US To Create Joint Task Force

A U.S. congressional delegation was in Nigeria on Monday meeting government and church leaders, after U.S. President Donald Trump last month threatened military action over the treatment of Christians in the country.

Welcoming the children’s rescue, Congressman Riley Moore said the talks had focused on steps to enhance security in the West African country and that a joint Nigeria-U.S. task force would be created.

“I want to thank National Security Advisor Nuhu Ribadu for a productive and positive conversation,” Moore said on X.

He said concrete steps and actions had been discussed, which he believed could destroy “terrorist organizations” in northeast Nigeria and “stop the killing of Christians.”

The rescue of the 100 schoolchildren was “a positive demonstration of the government’s increasing response to the security situation”, he said, citing the creation of the joint task force as an example of growing cooperation.

“There is much work still to be done, but things are moving in the right direction,” he said.

—

(Reporting by Ahmed Kingimi; Additional reporting by Ben Ezeamalu in Lagos Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo and Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Toby Chopra, Hugh Lawson, Timothy Heritage and Nick Zieminski)