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Search Underway for Kidnapped Students from Nigeria's Kaduna State

Timothy Obiezu

   ABUJA - Nigerian officials say gunmen abducted several college students
   in the country's north central state of Kaduna late Tuesday, killing at
   least one school official. The attack is the fifth high-profile
   abduction of Nigerian students since December, and it comes nearly one
   month after gunmen kidnapped 39 students in Kaduna.

   School authorities at Greenfield University in Nigeria's Kaduna state
   are conducting a headcount and investigating the attack, but say
   initial figures show at least 20 students are missing. A staff member
   was also found dead after the raid.

   Local police search team has launched a rescue operation for the
   missing students.

   The attack is the fifth in a series of mass kidnappings in the
   country's north since December, exacerbating an already bad security
   situation in the West African nation, said security expert, Ebenezer
   Oyetakin.

   "It's worrisome and disturbing. The problem is that I think we do not
   have enough proactive intelligence gathering," said Oyetakin.

   It is not clear if all the missing students were kidnapped by local
   criminal gangs who often kidnap for ransom.

   But the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, saidmore than 700 students have
   been kidnapped from schools in northern Nigeria since December.
   A rescued JSS Jangebe schoolgirl reacts after arriving in Jangebe,
   Zamfara, Nigeria, March 3, 2021. More than 270 schoolgirls kidnapped in
   northwestern Zamfara state were freed by their captors.

   Nigerian states like Kaduna, Niger, Katsina, Yobe and Zamfara have been
   the hardest hit. Last month, 39 students were taken from another
   college in Kaduna, and only 10 of them so far have been released.

   In another attack this week in nearby Zamfara state, barely 24 hours
   after the school attack, local dailies reported 45 people were killed.

   Nigerian authorities repeatedly have pledged to secure the country's
   citizens, but the recurrent attacks have drawn criticisms by right
   groups demanding accountability.

   "We believe that why the crimes have continued is because of lack of
   accountability. Impunity always leads to further commission of crimes
   by perpetrators," said Seun Bakare of Amnesty International.

   No one has been prosecuted so far since the wave of kidnappings began
   last year.

   Amnesty International reports more than 600 schools have been shut down
   in at least six states in Nigeria's north where education has been
   shaky.