More Abducted Nigerian Children Released, Government Says

A spokesman for the Nigerian Government said that the “remaining” students from a Catholic school had been freed, but the Diocese said only that a “second batch” had been released.A classroom at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Nigeria, in November. Hundreds of students were abducted from the school last month. Credit...Ifeanyi Immanuel Bakwenye/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDec. 22, 2025, 6:09 a.m. ETThe scores of remaining schoolchildren who were kidnapped at gunpoint from their dormitories in the middle of the night last month have been released, the Nigerian Government said.A spokesman for the Nigerian president said on Sunday that the remaining 130 schoolchildren had been freed, but a representative for the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora, which runs the school, said only that a “second batch” had been released.Gunmen seized 253 students, including nursery children as young as four, and 12 staff members on Nov. 21 from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, in northwestern Niger State. One adult and 99 students were released two weeks ago.The government spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said the students were expected to be able to rejoin their parents in time for Christmas celebrations after what he said was a “military-intelligence driven operation.”Although he wrote that the “remaining” students had been freed, details about their return were limited, and it was not entirely clear that situation had been completely resolved.If the release of 130 students is confirmed, that would bring the total number of children who have been released to 229 — two dozen short of the number of students who were believed to have been originally taken. The statement from the government did not account for the discrepancy. Ismail Auwal contributed reporting.Ruth Maclean is the West Africa bureau chief for The Times, covering 25 countries including Nigeria, Congo, the countries in the Sahel region as well as Central Africa.SKIP