Forty-two pupils have been kidnapped from a school and surrounding homes in Borno State by individuals believed to be Islamist militants, according to media reports.
The incident occurred on Friday in Askira-Uba Local Government Area in northeastern Nigeria, a region long affected by insurgency and mass abductions. Authorities are yet to confirm the attack or announce any rescue operation at the time of reporting.
The incident has renewed concerns over school safety and recurring kidnappings in northern Nigeria, especially in rural areas with weak security coverage, adding to Borno State’s long history of school-targeted attacks linked to insurgent groups.
According to Senator Ali Ndume, who represents Borno South in the Nigerian Senate and was among the first officials to speak publicly on the matter, the scale of the abduction was stark and deliberate.
Thirty-two pupils were seized directly from within the walls of Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School, ripped from classrooms mid-session.
A further ten children were pulled from nearby homes in what appeared to be a coordinated sweep of the community, leaving no doubt that this was not a random act of opportunistic violence, but a targeted, organised operation.
“At least 42 Nigerian school children were missing on Saturday a day after suspected Islamist militants attacked a school in the insurgency-hit northeastern Borno state,” the report stated.
Residents said armed men stormed the community on Friday, causing panic as students were taken from classrooms and nearby houses, with no immediate response confirmed from security agencies.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the Nigeria Police Force and Nigerian Armed Forces had not issued official statements at the time of reporting.
Nigeria has experienced repeated waves of mass abductions, particularly in the northern region where armed groups and insurgents frequently target schools, villages, and highways.
One of the most widely referenced cases remains the ‘Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction in Borno State, in 2014, where more than 270 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram.
In November 2025, armed groups carried out a large-scale kidnapping in Niger State, where over 300 students and 12 teachers were abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri.
In response to rising insecurity, President Bola Tinubu recently approved an increase in Nigeria Police Force recruitment from 30,000 to 50,000 officers to strengthen internal security capacity.
Yet notwithstanding these measures, schools and rural communities across northern Nigeria remain vulnerable, with attacks and abductions showing no signs of letting up.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
The abduction of 42 pupils from Askira-Uba, Borno State, is not an isolated incident, it is the latest chapter in Nigeria’s unresolved kidnapping crisis.
For over a decade, children across the northeast have been systematically targeted by Islamist militants, yet the government’s response remains reactive at best and absent at worst.
