Name: What is driving a fresh surge of attacks and kidnappings in Nigeria?
Uploaded: 2025-11-23T15:53:51.376Z
Duration: 3 min 44 s
Description: Mass kidnappings from schools and a deadly assault on a church have grabbed headlines as Nigeria again suffers a flare in attacks by gunmen. But this time the violence is taking place against a backdrop of diplomatic tensions with the U.S. over the alleged persecution of Christians.

Mass kidnappings from schools and a deadly assault on a church have grabbed headlines as Nigeria again suffers a flare in attacks by gunmen. But this time the violence is taking place against a backdrop of diplomatic tensions with the U.S. over the alleged persecution of Christians.

Abuja

Nigeria has experienced a renewed surge in violent attacks and mass kidnappings, including the abduction of at least 227 students and teachers from a Catholic school in Niger state and several other incidents across north-western and central regions. These attacks have prompted international concern, with the United States considering sanctions and other measures in response to alleged religious persecution and the broader security situation.

Experts and officials note that while some violence is perpetrated by ideologically motivated groups such as Boko Haram, many recent kidnappings are carried out by armed gangs seeking ransom, with no clear religious or political motive. The Nigerian government maintains that the security crisis is complex and not solely based on religious persecution, citing a combination of economic, political, social, and environmental factors fueling the unrest.

What is driving a fresh surge of attacks and kidnappings in Nigeria?

Nigeria has again grabbed global headlines following a spate of attacks by gunmen involving mass kidnappings of students. And that has heaped more pressure on the government after US President Donald Trump threatened military action over the alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria. Here's what we know. On Friday, the Christian Association of Nigeria said at least 227 students and teachers had been taken from a Catholic school in the north-western Niger state. That would make it the biggest kidnapping of schoolchildren in the country since March 2024. The first mass abduction since March 2024 took place on Monday. Twenty-five students seized from a predominantly Muslim girls' boarding school in the north-west Kebi state. On the same day, another armed gang abducted 64 people, including women and children, from their homes in Zamfara state, which borders Kebi. On Tuesday, gunmen attacked a church in the central Kwara state, killing two and kidnapping 38 worshippers, according to a church official. The official said the gunmen had issued a ransom demand for roughly $69,000 per congregant. No one has publicly claimed responsibility. However, most of northern Nigeria is blanketed by insecurity. In the north-west, where most of the recent attacks have occurred, armed gangs known locally as bandits carry out ransom kidnappings and hide in forests. They have no known religious or political motives. The fact of the matter remains, there's just a lot of money to be made in this enterprise. Ikemisit Efiong is a senior partner at the Lagos-based consultancy, SBM Intelligence. They have seen a situation where groups that were more ideologically coherent have completely flipped their operations to just making money out of this practice in order to procure more weapons, secure better means of living for themselves. In the north-east, jihadist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa province are waging an insurgency. Over two million people have been displaced and tens of thousands killed over the past 15 years. In central Nigeria, where the mostly Muslim north meets the largely Christian south, there are deadly clashes over religion, ethnicity and access to land and water. Nigeria says claims that Christians are facing persecution misrepresent the complex security situation and don't take into account efforts to safeguard religious freedom. The country has 230 million people across around 200 ethnic groups and tensions often flare. The US has said it is considering actions such as sanctions and Pentagon engagement on counter-terrorism. That's part of its plan to compel the Nigerian government to better protect Christian communities and religious freedom. But Effiong says the data shows that when it comes to violence in Nigeria, it's quote essentially a free-for-all, regardless of whether the victims are Christians, Muslims or people of other religious persuasions. The fact of the matter remains that the confluence of economic, political, social and environmental factors means that for many communities in this country, the overwhelming majority of whom are religiously and ethnically diverse, the preconditions exist for violence to occur.

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