More than one week after gunmen kidnapped dozens of schoolchildren from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools, Papiri, in Niger State, 265 teachers and children are still unaccounted for.
The Catholic Bishop of Kontagora diocese, Bulus Yohanna, who stated this yesterday during an interview, said the figures comprise 12 teachers and 253 schoolchildren, adding that the diocese has forwarded the names of the hostages to the Niger State governor, Umar Bago.
“We had 303 pupils and students missing and 12 teachers also not seen. We added that number to make it 315 that cannot be accounted for after taking the headcount”, the cleric said. “Those that escaped went back home to their villages. When we started having calls of those that reunited with their parents, we were able to get 50 out of the 315, including staff and teachers who could not be accounted for; we deducted that number, so we now have 265 as of now – that is the number that is missing”, he added.
Yohanna, who also chairs the Niger State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), asked the Federal Government to deploy security operatives to secure schools in the North-Central state. The Catholic bishop said the abduction has become a source of worry for the parents of the kidnapped schoolgirls. According to him, two parents have died due to shock from the incident. The cleric appealed to the federal and state government to come to the school’s aid by securing the students and teachers still held in captivity by the gunmen.
