DATELINE — ABUJA, Nigeria (BN24) — A father in Niger State collapsed and died of a heart attack shortly after learning that his three children were among hundreds abducted by armed bandits at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area, according to Rev. John Hayab, Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the Northern Region and the Federal Capital Territory.
Hayab, speaking Tuesday in an interview with ARISE News, identified the deceased only as Mr. Anthony, describing the incident as a tragic illustration of the psychological devastation families are facing after the mass kidnapping that began on Monday. The attackers seized 303 students, pupils, and a dozen teachers in one of the largest school abductions in northern Nigeria since the 2014 Chibok attack.
According to Hayab and local diocesan authorities, about 50 students who fled into the forest managed to escape between Friday and Saturday. More than 265 students are still missing.
The emotional gravity of the situation has deepened as communities across Niger, Kebbi, and Kwara states grapple with what Hayab called “a traumatic week for parents, leaders, and our security men.” He said parents are terrified to speak publicly, worried that exposure could endanger their missing children.
Hayab narrated that Mr. Anthony had gone into shock upon receiving confirmation that all three of his children were among those kidnapped.
“Imagine a father learning that three of his children were taken,” Hayab said in the televised interview, noting that Anthony succumbed to a heart attack shortly after the news reached him. ARISE News reported that the grief in the community was palpable.
Hayab added that many families remain unwilling to be interviewed or even acknowledge publicly that their children were abducted. “The pains and the trauma are still very fresh,” he said.
Families, he explained, have been living with “intense fear” amid repeated school kidnappings across the northern region. “Everybody is worried, everybody is angry, everybody needs a stop,” he said.
The attack on St. Mary’s Catholic School comes amid a resurgence of mass abductions by armed groups largely described by authorities as “bandits”—criminal networks operating across forests in the Northwest and Northcentral regions.
Data from Nigerian security trackers and local reporting indicate that school kidnappings have escalated sharply since 2020, driven by the profitability of ransom payments and the inability of security forces to consistently protect rural communities.
Though the Nigerian government officially banned ransom payments, communities often resort to private negotiations due to slow or ineffective intervention from state authorities.
Schools in Niger State, which borders the volatile forests of Zamfara and Kebbi, have been especially vulnerable. The Papiri area, deep in rural Agwara, has limited security presence and almost no road infrastructure conditions which bandits exploit.
Hayab told ARISE News that residents reported “no clear security presence” in the aftermath of the attack. He stressed that communities “want to see concrete action.”
“The onus is now on the Nigerian security agencies to ensure that we don’t continue speaking about these tragedies on television,” he said. “People want real movement, not just promises.”
He underscored that the absence of security forces in Papiri after the abduction has intensified despair among families who do not know whether their children have eaten, slept, or even survived the ordeal in captivity.
“These children have not slept; they have not bathed. Their parents cannot even explain where they are.”
While Niger is grappling with its crisis, Kebbi State authorities announced the release of 24 schoolgirls abducted in a separate attack earlier this month. Hayab welcomed the development but said relief in one community does not erase the trauma across others.
“The entire region is enveloped in fear,” he said. “Kebbi, Niger, Kwara everyone is on edge.”
The frequency of these attacks has triggered renewed calls for a coordinated regional strategy, as bandits often operate across state borders and retreat into forests sprawling across multiple jurisdictions.
The repeated attacks on schools are threatening to destabilize northern Nigeria’s already fragile education sector.
Economists and development analysts note that protracted insecurity discourages school enrollment, undermines long-term human capital formation, and deepens regional economic inequality. Every school closure not only disrupts academic activity but also weakens local economies dependent on teachers, vendors, transporters, and food suppliers.
In Niger State alone, rural communities rely heavily on boarding schools that serve as both educational institutions and local employment hubs. The abduction at St. Mary’s threatens to shut down the school indefinitely, a blow that could ripple through Agwara’s local economy for years.
Parents have begun withdrawing children from nearby schools amid fear that other institutions may be targeted, creating what experts call an “education desert” in parts of northern Nigeria.
Nigeria’s broader investment climate continues to be shaped by insecurity. The Northwest and Northcentral zones are critical for agriculture, mining, and emerging energy projects. Persistent attacks increase operational risks, prompting businesses to spend more on private security or withdraw entirely.
Analysts monitoring Nigeria’s risk index note that security incidents such as the Papiri abduction increase volatility in sectors like agro-processing, logistics, and rural infrastructure development. Investors view school abductions as indicators of weak governance, unmonitored terrain, and the difficulty of protecting workers in remote areas.
Market observers also caution that recurring abductions may influence state and federal budget allocations, diverting funds from development programs to emergency security operations and ransom negotiations, whether officially recognized or not.
Nigeria’s security architecture, comprised of the military, police, civil defense, and state-level vigilante groups, has struggled to create a unified strategy against banditry.
Security experts argue that competing mandates and insufficient resource-sharing undermine rapid response capabilities. For instance, the military often leads counter-bandit operations, but local policing and intelligence gathering remain fragmented.
States such as Katsina and Zamfara rely heavily on informal vigilante groups known as “Yan Sakai” or “community guards,” but Niger’s system is less developed, leaving communities like Papiri especially exposed.
Meanwhile, private security companies, which serve wealthier schools and urban districts, are largely absent from public or missionary schools in rural regions, contributing to a widening security gap between urban and rural populations.
Security analysts believe the Papiri abduction will likely intensify pressure on President Bola Tinubu’s administration to improve rural security, particularly after multiple high-profile kidnappings within weeks.
Three big questions loom:
Short-term raids may disperse bandit groups, but experts say that unless troops maintain a presence and monitor forest corridors, attackers will simply regroup.
Bandits operate across state borders; analysts argue that Niger, Kebbi, and Kwara require shared surveillance systems and coordinated rapid-response units.
Without immediate security improvements, parents may reject formal schooling altogether. Long-term fallout could deepen literacy gaps that already disadvantage northern states.
Development economists warn that declining school attendance may undermine Nigeria’s future labor market, affecting everything from agricultural modernization to digital-economy participation.
As families mourn, wait, and hope, the death of Mr. Anthony has crystallized the human toll beyond the statistics. For communities across Niger State, the crisis is no longer defined only by the hundreds of missing children, but also by the accumulating grief and the looming fear that the nation’s security institutions remain overwhelmed.
Hayab’s final words to ARISE News captured the desperation in the region: “People want to see concrete action. Everybody is worried. Everybody needs a stop.”
For now, St. Mary’s Catholic School is silent, classrooms emptied, and a community watches for any sign, any call, any movement that might bring their children home.
