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Gunmen have seized in excess of 300 students and teachers in what appears to be the biggest collective seizures in modern Nigerian times, according to a Christian organization on Saturday.

Escalating Crisis in Educational Institutions

The pre-dawn Friday assault on St Mary's mixed-gender school in western Nigeria occurred just a short time after armed men attacked a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, seizing 25 female students.

Earlier reports had indicated 227 individuals were taken, but updated figures surfaced after a comprehensive counting process established that 303 students and 12 instructors had been abducted.

The kidnapped pupils, ranging between eight and 18 years, account for nearly half of the school's total enrollment of 629.

Official Reaction and Safety Actions

State officials have stated that intelligence departments and law enforcement are presently conducting a comprehensive head count to establish the exact number of abducted individuals.

In reaction to the growing security fears, the state government has ordered the shutting of all schools in the state, with nearby states adopting similar preventive steps.

Additionally, the federal education department has ordered the provisional shutting of 47 boarding secondary schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has called off international engagements, including attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on handling the crisis.

Recent Security Incidents

The school abductions constitute the latest in a sequence of security breaches that have shaken the nation, including an assault on a church in the west of Nigeria where gunmen shot dead two individuals and abducted numerous congregation members during a live-streamed service.

These incidents have occurred against the backdrop of international attention on Nigeria's security situation.

Past Background

Nigeria continues to be scarred by the memory of the mass abduction of almost 300 schoolgirls by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a decade ago, with some of those victims still missing.

Eyewitness Testimonies

In a concerning recording shared by religious groups, a frightened employee recounted hearing the noise of bikes and cars before hearing "violent banging" on multiple gates of the compound.

"Students were crying," the witness reported, recounting her fear while searching for keys to the section where the screaming was loudest.

The regional Catholic diocese confirmed that the "assailants operated aggressively and uninterrupted for nearly three hours, moving through dormitories."

Public Response and Fears

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried guardians were picking up their children from educational institutions following the closure directive.

One mother, a 40-year-old nurse, expressed her shock at the magnitude of the kidnapping, asking how 300 students could be taken at once.

She concluded that the "authorities is not doing enough to address insecurity," and voiced support for external assistance to "salvage this situation."

Ongoing Safety Challenges

For years, heavily armed bandit groups have been conducting murders and kidnappings for money in rural areas of northern and middle Nigeria, where state presence is minimal.

While nobody has claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, bandit gangs seeking ransom payments often attack schools in countryside locations where protection is weak.

These groups maintain camps in extensive woodland areas spanning several states in the west of Nigeria.

Although these bandits have no ideological leanings and are mainly motivated by monetary profit, their growing cooperation with extremist groups from the north-east has become a significant cause of concern for authorities and security analysts alike.