EDITORIAL: Nigeria Cannot Keep Counting Kidnapped Students Like Statistics

The latest abductions of students in Oyo and Borno states are not isolated crimes. They are terrifying reminders that, despite years of promises, Nigerian schools remain dangerously vulnerable to armed violence and organised criminality. Across two different regions of the country, the insurgency-ravaged North-East and the relatively calmer South-West, gunmen once again invaded learning environments, shattered families, and deepened national fear.

In Borno State, suspected ISWAP fighters reportedly abducted about 42 children during attacks on schools in Mussa village, Askira-Uba Local Government Area. Some of the victims were said to be between two and five years old. Witnesses claimed the attackers arrived on motorcycles and used some of the children as human shields while escaping.

Almost simultaneously, armed men stormed schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, abducting between 40 and 48 pupils and students, while at least one teacher was reportedly killed during the attack.

Combined, more than 80 Nigerian children may now be in captivity. That horrifying figure alone should shake the conscience of the nation.

Yet, beyond the numbers lies something even more painful-the growing normalisation of school kidnappings in Nigeria. The country has reached a dangerous point where mass abductions no longer produce the sustained outrage or urgency they once did. Headlines appear, officials issue statements, security agencies launch rescue operations, and then the nation gradually moves on until another school is attacked.

This cycle is unacceptable. For years, many Nigerians believed that school abductions were largely confined to insurgency-prone northern states. The attack in Oyo has shattered that illusion. The South-West, once considered relatively insulated from the horrors of mass school kidnappings, has now witnessed the same nightmare.

That development signals a frightening expansion of insecurity across the country.

From Chibok in 2014 to Dapchi, Kankara, Greenfield University and now Oyo and Borno again, Nigerian children continue to pay the price for systemic security failures. Every abduction weakens confidence in education, traumatises communities and pushes frightened parents closer to withdrawing children from school entirely.

The long-term consequences are enormous. A nation already struggling with one of the world’s highest numbers of out-of-school children cannot survive a future where classrooms become symbols of fear rather than hope. Teachers become reluctant to work in rural areas. Parents begin to see education as a dangerous gamble. Children grow up associating school with violence and uncertainty.

No country develops under such conditions. What makes the latest incidents even more troubling is the repeated pattern of vulnerability around rural schools. Many learning centres across Nigeria remain isolated, poorly protected and dangerously exposed. In several past attacks, communities complained about weak security presence, delayed responses and inadequate intelligence gathering.

The Borno incident again raised disturbing questions after reports emerged that the attackers struck shortly after security personnel reportedly left the area. Whether coincidental or not, such details reinforce public frustration over operational gaps and the inability of authorities to maintain sustained protection around vulnerable communities.

To be fair, security agencies in Oyo moved quickly after the attack. Joint operations were reportedly launched, escape routes sealed and rescue efforts intensified around forest corridors and nearby parks. But reactive operations alone are not enough.

Nigeria cannot continue operating a security model that responds only after children have already been kidnapped.

The country urgently needs a comprehensive national school protection strategy backed by funding, technology and accountability. Vulnerable schools require perimeter fencing, surveillance systems, rapid-response security units and stronger collaboration between local communities and intelligence agencies.

Government must also stop treating school kidnappings as isolated emergencies. They are now a national security crisis.

Equally important is the issue of justice. Too often, kidnappers disappear into forests and criminal networks without consequences. Ransom negotiations quietly become normalised because families and communities no longer trust the state’s ability to rescue victims safely. This fuels the kidnapping economy and emboldens criminal groups.

The damage extends beyond the immediate victims. Every successful abduction sends a message to other criminal groups that schools remain soft targets. Every delayed rescue weakens public trust. Every traumatised child represents a scar on the nation’s future.

Nigeria must understand the symbolic importance of protecting schools. A classroom is not just a building; it is a promise of opportunity, stability and national progress. Once children begin to fear schools, the country begins to lose its future.

The kidnapping of more than 80 children across Oyo and Borno should therefore not be treated as another temporary headline. It should serve as a national emergency demanding decisive action at every level of government.

A state that cannot protect children inside classrooms risks losing both its moral legitimacy and the confidence of its citizens.

Nigeria must stop counting kidnapped students like statistics and start protecting them like the future of the nation.