A boy holds a sign to protest against, what a teacher, local councilor and parents said, the kidnapping of hundreds of school pupils by gunmen after the Friday prayer, in Kaduna, Nigeria. Reuters

On Friday about 300 schoolchildren in Kaduna, the north-eastern state in Nigeria, were kidnapped on Saturday. They took away by force children between seven and 15 years in age. Some of them had managed to escape after being captured, while a few others escaped being captured in the first place. The children who escaped said that the raiders came on motorcycles and they were in uniforms. So far no group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. The trend of capturing schoolchildren started off in 2014 under Boko Haram, an extremist group in Nigeria who had captured 200 schoolchildren. The last capture of children was in July 2021. The reason seems to be the plain criminal intent of extorting ransom from the government and from the parents of the children. It is a sign of breakdown of the authority of the state in parts of Nigeria.

Many of the parents of the kidnapped children feel that the reason is that the government neglect of that part of the country, which has emboldened armed gangs to carry out these raids. Nigeria has been experiencing strife for a long period, and the nature of the turbulence varied. It was both sectarian and geographical and sectarian, between north and south, between Christian and Muslim. There has also been a short spurt in violence spawned by religious extremist groups like the Boko Haram. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and it also has rich natural resources like oil. But it has been prone to violence from many sides and many parts. It seems that its very rich natural sources is the reason for the endemic violence. The armed gangs are threatening ordinary people because they seem to realise that the state in Nigeria is weak.

It is to counter this perception that Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said on X, formerly Twitter, “I have received briefing from security chiefs on the two incidents in Borno and Kaduna, and I am confident that the victims will be rescued. Nothing else is acceptable to me and the waiting family members of these abducted citizens. Justice will be decisively administered.” It is a reassuring statement but the parents of the abducted children will not be at peace until the children are brought back safe. Kaduna state governor Uba Sani said on X, “The Kaduna state government and security agencies are working round the clock to ensure the safe return of the schoolchildren. I have received strong assurances from the president and national security adviser that no stone will be left unturned to bring back the children.” The distraught parents are pleading desperately to the government to act decisively. Musa Mohammed, a local resident said, “Early in the morning…we heard gunshots from the bandits. Before we knew it they had gathered up the children. We are pleading to the government, all of us are pleading, they should please help us with security.”

It is a paradoxical situation in many parts of Africa. Where the state is too strong, it does not protect the citizens as much as it tramples on their lives and their rights. And there are places where the state is not strong enough to protect the lives of the people. Nigeria is a large state, and though it has been buffeted by bouts of civil war, the state has survived. What it needs to is to assert its authority through the territory, and extend protection to the people. The armed gangs emerge only when they perceive the state to be weak. And many of the gang members are also unemployed people who take to guns and violence because they have no jobs. It is not an easy problem to solve – to provide jobs and to establish law and order. But the Nigerian state has to embrace the difficult task. It has no other option.