UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th March, 2021) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres decried the most recent kidnapping of students in northwestern Nigeria and called for their immediate release, United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing on Friday.
Earlier in the day, local police confirmed to Sputnik that 30 students were kidnapped after an armed group attacked a school in Nigeria's Kaduna State.
"The Secretary-General strongly condemns the reported abduction of another group of students in [Nigeria], this time from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Kaduna," Dujarric said. "The Secretary-General calls for the immediate and unconditional release of those students that remain in captivity."
Kaduna Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai said the security troops deployed to the site were able to rescue 180 people, but 30 students were still reported missing.
Guterres called on Nigeria to safeguard schools and ensure that students can enjoy the right to education in a safe environment.
The kidnapping comes several days after Kaduna State Internal Security Samuel Aruwan unveiled in a report that more than 900 people were killed, and nearly 2,000 were kidnapped across the state in 202. Boko Haram, the militant group linked to the Islamic State terrorist organization (banned in Russia), appears to have intensified its attacks and abductions of schoolchildren across the Western African nation over the past several months.
