Nigeria increases number of missing students after school raid to 39

Nine more students than originally suspected are missing after gunmen stormed a forestry college in northwestern Nigeria earlier this week, a government official in the state of Kaduna in Nigeria said.

The review on Saturday brings the total number of missing students to 39 after Thursday's scrutiny of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, the fourth massacre in northern Nigeria since December.

Kaduna State Security Commissioner Samuel Aruwan said the missing were 23 women and 16 men.

"The Kaduna state government maintains close communication with the management of the college as efforts are made by security agencies to track down the missing students," Aruwan said.

The armed gang broke into the school on the outskirts of the city of Kaduna near a military academy on Thursday around 23:30 (22:30 GMT).

Aruwan said Friday the military rescued 180 people after an emergency call in the early hours of the morning. An indefinite number of students were injured and receiving medical assistance in a military facility, he added. Upset parents, family members, and sympathizers arrived at the school for news.

The issue of student kidnappings in the Northern Part of Nigeria is becoming a concern. In 2014, many girls were abducted by Boko Haram group for ransom. Only few were released while several are still missing.

Grieving parents are still searching hard to find their kids, while the government's are failing badly. Even in the village of President several kidnappings were made while he was touring the same region.

Mass kindnappings of students in the most populous country of Africa are now becoming a serious concern for people not just within the region but around the world.

According to SB Morgen, a geopolitical research advisory firm in Lagos, at least $ 11 million was paid to kidnappers between January 2016 and March 2020.

In late February, Buhari urged state governments to “review their policies to reward bandits with money and vehicles and warn that the policy could boomerang disastrously.”

The unrest became a political issue for Buhari, a retired general and former military ruler who came under increasing criticism over the increase in violent crime and replaced his longtime military chiefs in February.