On Sunday, December 21, 130 abducted Nigerian students were released from captivity. Initial reports claim that on November 21, an unknown group abducted between 230 and 265 students from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Paipiri. This mass abduction adds to the long list of targeted attacks on schools and places of worship in north and central Nigeria. Government officials and local authorities disagree on the total number of pupils originally abducted and, therefore, whether all of the students have been released. It’s currently unclear which group abducted the students and what the government did to secure their release.   

Mohammad Idris, Nigeria’s Minister of Information, stated: “As it is, the federal government can confirm that all the abducted pupils of the Catholic School, Papiri, numbering 230, have been freed… Not a single pupil is left in captivity.” This statement, however, directly contradicts the statement released by the school. Daniel Atori, an aide to Bishop Bulus Yohanna, the archbishop for the diocese where the school is, claims that there were originally 265 students abducted. He stated: “If the release of 130 people is confirmed, we will continue to plead with the government for the remaining 35 still in captivity.” Beyond the number of students, the Nigerian government’s methods of rescue are disputed. According to The New York Times, analysts are skeptical of the Nigerian government’s statement that the release was a “rescue” and believe it is possible that either a ransom was paid or that prisoners were released to secure the students’ freedom. Although not confirmed, the conflicting numbers of the abducted students, as well as the lack of specificity for the methods of returning the students, create a sense of mistrust in the Nigerian government. This mass abduction is the continuation of a dangerous trend, with its origins dating back two decades; the government must establish trustworthy practices for handling situations like this. 

Since the founding of Boko Haram in 2002, violence in northern, northeastern, and central Nigeria has escalated tremendously. Boko Haram, a Sunni extremist group, has violently sought the establishment of a Salafi-Islamist state by targeting citizens to obtain ransoms or to expand territory. The Nigerian government has responded by promoting the creation of “vigilantes,” local militia groups established to fight Boko Haram independently. Although originally encouraged by the federal government, these groups often begin to create their own governance zones, leaving little room for oversight or accountability and undermining federal authority. This structure has led to the current situation: various militarized groups, often with no real motivating political ideology, united only by ethnicity or religion, constantly fighting one another (despite shared religion) to gain more resources, either through territorial gain or by ransoming kidnapped citizens to the federal government.

Although the return of the 130 students is a necessary step in addressing the abduction, continued unclear practices in dealing with violent militia groups will only lead to more insecurity. The federal government should establish a system of identification for the various vigilante groups, differentiating by motives, unifying factors, and targeted groups. Then, the federal government should provide transparency of its methodology in dealing with armed groups, especially in situations like the abduction of students; this will create accountability and strengthen people’s trust in the government. The problem is undeniably more complex than can be summarized in this article; however, the government can certainly begin to re-establish security by creating a structural understanding of violent groups and implementing transparency in its methods of dealing with such groups. Without these reforms, uncertainty and mistrust in the government will continue to grow, sowing insecurity and violence, and peace will remain a distant concept.