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Officials in Nigeria have obtained the freedom of one hundred abducted students taken by armed men from a Catholic school last month, as stated by a UN source and regional news outlets this past Sunday. However, the situation of an additional one hundred and sixty-five hostages thought to continue being held captive was unknown.

The Incident

During November, 315 individuals were taken from St Mary’s co-educational residential school in north-central a Nigerian state, as the nation buckled under a wave of large-scale kidnappings echoing the infamous 2014 Boko Haram abduction of schoolgirls in a town in north-east Nigeria.

Around fifty got away shortly afterward, which left two hundred and sixty-five believed to be under kidnappers' control.

Freedom for Some

The 100 students are due to be handed over to local government officials this Monday, stated by the source.

“They will be handed over to the government tomorrow,” the individual informed a news agency.

Local media also stated that the liberation of the hostages had been obtained, though they lacked information on if it was achieved via dialogue or military force, nor on the fate of the still-missing hostages.

The freeing of the 100 children was verified to the press by a government spokesperson Sunday Dare.

Statements

“We've been anxiously awaiting for their safe arrival, if it is true then it is wonderful development,” said a representative, spokesman for Bishop Bulus Yohanna of the Kontagora diocese which manages the school.

“However, we are not officially aware and have lacked official communication by the government.”

Wider Crisis

While abductions for money are widespread in the nation as a way for criminals and armed groups to make quick cash, in a series of large-scale kidnappings in last month, hundreds were taken, casting an harsh attention on the country's deteriorating law and order crisis.

The nation faces a years-long jihadist insurgency in the north-east, while criminal groups carry out kidnappings and loot communities in the northwestern region, and clashes between farmers and herders concerning scarce farmland continue in the middle belt.

On a smaller scale, armed groups connected to separatist movements also operate in the nation's restive southeastern region.

The Chibok Shadow

Among the first large-scale abductions that garnered global concern was in 2014, when nearly three hundred female students were taken from their school in the north-eastern town of Chibok by Boko Haram jihadists.

A decade later, Nigeria’s kidnap-for-ransom problem has “become a systematic, revenue-generating enterprise” that collected around a significant sum between a recent twelve-month period, as per a analysis by a Nigerian research firm.