More than 40 kidnapped children and teachers freed after Nigerian army operation

For their families, it has been an agonising wait."It was a harrowing experience... but we thank God that it ended well," Prof Wole Alamu tells the BBC. His wife Rachael Folawe Alamu is the headteacher of Community Grammar school and he said his family had found it especially difficult to see videos released of her and other teachers and pupils by their abductors."We are happy that they are out and we are grateful to everybody who has contributed in one way or the other for the release," Prof Alamu added.Speaking to the BBC, Hassan Ajibola who leads the Teachers' Union in Oyo State said he was "happy and elated" and felt huge "joy", but urged the authorities to fully implement stronger security measures as outlined in their Safe School Initiative that was launched over a decade ago following the infamous Chibok schoolgirls' abduction."I am very much convinced that should that [if the] program be fully implemented and as initiated, our schools will be very, very secured," he said. He added measures should include deploying security personnel to schools, CCTV, regular patrols, fencing school premises and using local security groups to support areas facing shortages of personnel.In Nigeria, continued school kidnappings have led to calls from lawmakers and rights groups for an investigation into how the Safe School Initiative funds have been used.The Oyo state abductions caused widespread concern in Nigeria because of their scale and because it took place in the predominantly Christian south-west of the country - as opposed to the predominantly Muslim north where such attacks are more commonplace.