An analysis by Save the Children found an uptick in school kidnappings in Nigeria since January 2024, with at least 10 attacks affecting more than 670 children.
ABUJA, 28 November 2025 – At least 10 school kidnappings have taken place across Nigeria in less than two years, affecting about 670 children, in a worsening school-safety crisis that has put the lives and wellbeing of students at grave risk, Save the Children said.
An analysis by Save the Children of media reports and data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) shows an uptick in kidnappings of children in or on their way to school in Nigeria since January 2024, with at least 10 attacks. [1]
In the past month alone, at least 325 children and staff have been kidnapped in two school attacks, highlighting the extreme vulnerability of students and schools. These attacks are far from unique: in March 2024, one major attack led to 287 students and a teacher being kidnapped in Kaduna state.
Despite fading from international headlines after the 2014 abduction of the Chibok girls, kidnappings of children in or on their way to school have continued in Nigeria, with analysis indicating the situation is worsening.
Reports of repeated school attacks amid ongoing conflict and insecurity, particularly in the country’s north, point to a growing threat to school children’s safety. Fears of attacks are stopping some children from ever attending school. Around 19 million children in Nigeria (27%) do not attend due to the threat of kidnappings, poverty and cultural factors – one of the highest numbers in the world. [2]
Duncan Harvey, Save the Children’s Country Director in Nigeria said:
“These alarming figures on the number of children kidnapped at school and the latest abductions in Nigeria must be a wake-up call as we are seeing schools and students come increasingly under attack in Nigeria.
“School should be a safe haven and a place where a child can dream of and make a better future. It should never be a place where children’s and their parents’ worst nightmares can come true. No child should ever have to choose between learning and staying safe. When a school is attacked, it’s not just walls that fall; a child’s safety, dreams, and future fall with them.
“Attacks on schools have long-lasting consequences for communities and children’s access to education. They leave children too scared to go to class and force schools to close. We need urgent, coordinated action now to prevent these attacks from becoming a dangerous norm.”
Nigeria endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration (SSD) in 2015, committing to safeguard education during armed conflict and prevent the military use of schools. Since then, the country has introduced significant frameworks aimed at protecting learners, teachers, and educational infrastructure. However, despite these advances, implementation remains weak at state and community levels, largely due to inadequate financing, lack of legal enforcement, limited awareness, and insufficient capacity among local actors.
Save the Children has been working in Nigeria since 2001 and responding to the humanitarian crisis since 2014, providing food, clean water, nutrition and protection services, sexual and reproductive health care, livelihood and education to families across the region. Save the Children is also providing technical support to the government on policy changes and reforms, especially in critical sectors such as health, education, social protection and safe schools.
ENDS
Notes to editor:
[1] Save the Children searched for incidents of kidnapping in Nigeria that occurred either in or on the way to or form school using ACLED’s database which uses media and other sources to record conflict events. Our total only includes incidents which explicitly mention that a kidnapping occurred related to school and excludes kidnappings of school children in other contexts such as at home. We also excluded kidnappings of university and college students (although some college students may be aged under 18), and kidnappings of teachers or school staff where there was no specific mention of kidnap of children too. Numbers here should be treated as estimates, based on data captured by ACLED and in media reports which is unverified.
[2] Data from UNESCO: https://education-estimates.org/out-of-school/data/
