Papiri and the price of neglect — three hundred taken, schools shut, trust gone

By Joshua Omoniyi 

Gunmen seized pupils and staff from St Mary’s school in Papiri. The state closed every school. The IGP recalled 11,566 officers and the president declared a national security emergency. This is what happened, why it mattered and how people are feeling.

So much happened that life changed in a Month. Mothers stopped leaving children to play at the shop. Markets emptied at dusk. Schools shut their gates.

Gunmen raided St Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Papiri, Agwara local government, Niger State. Church officials say 315 people were taken. About 50 pupils escaped and returned to families. Hundreds remained unaccounted for as security teams moved in. The state government closed all schools while operations continued.

The president declared a nationwide security emergency and ordered mass recruitment to beef up the police and armed forces. The state said the police would recruit thousands more officers and use NYSC camps for fast training. The president told Nigerians there must be no hiding places for criminals. That announcement was necessary. It was also overdue.

The IGP said 11,566 police officers were recalled from VIP protection and sent to frontline duties. For years many patrols were thin while men guarded convoys and VIPs. Moving those officers matters. It will not fix intelligence failures, logistics gaps or community distrust overnight.

On top of that, courts delivered a historic verdict. Nnamdi Kanu was convicted on terrorism counts and sentenced to a long term in prison. The ruling has split opinion across the Southeast. Some call it justice. Others call it provocation. The sentence will shape politics and security in ways officials must not ignore.

Violent groups have grown bolder. Suspected Lakurawa gunmen attacked an immigration checkpoint in Bagudo, Kebbi State and killed three officers. They burned vehicles and took weapons. Attacks on uniformed officers show an escalation from ransom kidnapping to outright contesting of state control. That changes the map of danger.

There is a technical gap too. NASRDA officials have said the country lacks enough satellites with the speed and resolution to follow mobile groups in near real time. In plain language that means criminals can move through forests and across borders with little chance of being seen from above. Better eyes in the sky matter. But technology alone will not solve weak community networks and poor local intelligence.

Families live the consequences. Joy told me six children were taken near her mother’s shop not long ago. She said mothers are running to pull children out of markets and at dusk they call each other to check on kids. Joy kept it short. She said only God knows what will happen to children taken into the bush.

Tosin said he feels confusion and chronic leadership failure. He blames a mix of incompetence and greed. He said those in power have tools. They choose how to use them.

Emmanuel allowed his name. He said the nation feels heavy. People are tired deep in their bones. Yet he notices neighbours sharing food and strangers helping each other. For him the mood is pain and hope in one breath.

The anonymous contributor pushed harder. He said churches lost institutional discipline. He said they now run media empires and big programs that look impressive on Sunday but do little to change day to day life. He urged faith groups to invest in schools, clinics and legal aid. He warned against trying to rebuild power through spectacle. He said legitimacy grows from service and transparency. That point hurts but it matters. Service tackles the social reasons kidnapping becomes a business.

What must change is simple to say and hard to do. First, a clear rescue plan with public timelines and named commanders. Families deserve to know who is responsible and when. Second, lease high revisit satellite imagery and deploy drones while national capacity is built. Third, reorient policing away from ceremony and towards community safety. Fourth, audit every unexplained release so rumours of secret deals do not breed more crime. Fifth, invite churches, mosques and civic groups into local programmes that create jobs and reduce incentives for crime.

Ransom deals and shadow negotiations encourage the market for abduction. Officials must make clear rules and enforce them. If releases keep happening in the dark people will invent answers and those answers will corrode trust.

Nigeria’s insecurity now wears many faces. What began years ago as the insurgency linked to Boko Haram in 2009 has evolved into a tangled mix of banditry, terrorism tied to ISWAP, farmer-herder clashes, and mass kidnappings for ransom. In the last ten days alone, field reports and humanitarian trackers say hundreds were abducted across Niger, Kebbi, Kwara and Borno. Armed men stormed a girls’ secondary school in Kebbi on November 17, killed staff and took 25 students. In Kwara, gunmen struck an area described as a church-mosque corridor, dragging away worshippers. Meanwhile raids continue in Niger State on schools and farming communities. In the Northeast and Northwest, attacks persist — including one reported ambush killing a military officer — showing that the crisis has spread far beyond familiar hot zones.

When Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared a nationwide security emergency, his address combined grief, anger and authority. He used strong phrases that speak to many Nigerians’ faith and fears — “agents of evil,” “no hiding place,” “sacrifice for the nation.” At the same time, the state gave direct orders to the army, police, DSS and NSCDC for new recruitment, deployment, and tightened security at schools, worship centres and rural communities. The plan includes support for state-level policing, reforms in livestock grazing to ease farmer-herder conflict, and fresh rules for security in boarding schools and camps. The speech looked and sounded like a turning point.

But almost every part of the plan faces harsh questions before it even begins. Analysts warn that simply hiring 20,000 new officers — on top of recent recruitment — will not fix deep structural failures. The police-to-citizen ratio in Nigeria remains dangerously low and state security agencies are chronically under-equipped. Rapid retraining in NYSC camps and deployment into forest hideouts may give quick coverage, but without long-term funding, discipline and proper training, these new recruits risk worsening abuses or failures. The push to revive state policing and decentralise security raises constitutional concerns and risks political misuse by state actors.

Preventive measures — like discouraging remote boarding schools and tightening security at worship centres — may reduce risk, but they also ignore how little government presence there is in rural areas. Saying “stay safe” is easier than building the roads, intelligence networks and trust needed to make safety real.

We are at a dangerous turning point. Small errors now become disasters later. There is still time to fix this. But leaders must choose steady work over quick theatre. If they do, schools will reopen and mothers will stop running at dusk. If they do not, the cycle of panic will continue.