Northern Nigeria is facing an intensifying wave of school kidnappings that has left families terrified and communities devastated. 

The recent abductions in Niger, Kebbi, and Nasarawa States have once again brought national attention to a disturbing pattern: children are increasingly becoming the preferred targets of armed groups. These attacks are not random or opportunistic. 

They are deliberate strategies designed to generate profit, spread fear, weaken communities, and challenge the authority of the Nigerian state. Understanding why children have become central to this crisis is essential to addressing it.

A Rising Wave of Attacks Across the North

The abduction of students from a Catholic school in Niger State occurred shortly after more than 20 schoolgirls were seized in Kebbi State, a sequence that signals a worrying escalation. 

These incidents are part of a consistent and growing trend in which bandit networks and extremist factions carry out attacks across multiple states within days of each other. 

The increasing speed and coordination of these abductions show that children are being specifically targeted as part of a broader criminal and ideological strategy.

Why Schools Are the Easiest Targets

Schools in remote parts of northern Nigeria often operate without meaningful security measures. Many have no perimeter fencing, no surveillance systems, insufficient lighting, and only a handful of unarmed guards,if any at all. 

Their distance from military bases means that attackers can strike quickly and escape long before security personnel arrive. 

According to UNICEF, fewer than forty percent of schools in high-risk areas have functioning early-warning systems. These vulnerabilities make children alarmingly accessible to armed groups seeking easy, high-impact operations.

The Economics of Kidnapping Children

Kidnapping children generates enormous financial leverage for armed groups. When minors are abducted, the urgency of the situation forces communities, families, and government authorities to respond quickly. 

This often leads to higher ransom payments offered within shorter negotiation windows. Bandits have learned that children produce the most lucrative outcomes because their disappearance triggers intense emotional pressure and immediate political attention. 

Over time, this financial reward system has transformed the abduction of children into a central revenue stream for criminal networks.

Extremist Groups See Schools as Ideological Targets

For extremist movements such as Boko Haram and ISWAP, the motivation goes beyond money. These groups view Western-style education as a threat to their ideology.

Schools represent hope, opportunity, empowerment, especially for girls, and the promise of a different future. Attacking schools allows extremists to disrupt this progress, weaken communities, and undermine the government’s ability to provide basic services.

By targeting educational institutions, they send a message that learning is dangerous and that the state cannot protect its children.

Weak Security Structures Enable Repeat Attacks

The persistence of these attacks reflects deeper weaknesses within Nigeria’s security infrastructure. Many affected communities lack permanent police posts or military presence. 

Forest corridors linking states such as Niger, Kebbi, Kaduna, Zamfara, and Katsina provide armed groups with easy routes for mobility and escape. 

The slow response times, inadequate intelligence networks, and limited coordination among security agencies make it difficult to apprehend perpetrators. Because attackers are rarely arrested or prosecuted, they face little deterrence, which encourages repeat operations.

The Long Shadow of Trauma on Communities

The repeated abductions have inflicted severe psychological damage on communities across the North. Many parents now fear that sending their children to school is a life-threatening decision. 

As a result, enrollment rates have dropped sharply in several states, and entire communities are reconsidering the value of formal education. Children who have witnessed or survived attacks carry emotional scars that may affect them for years. 

The long-term impact threatens to derail educational progress and deepen poverty across affected regions.