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Jim Risch, US senator from Idaho, says the Nigerian government has long failed to prevent schoolchildren from jihadist and criminal abductions.
In a post on X, the lawmaker who chairs the US senate foreign relations committee, said students, particularly schoolgirls, remain at heightened risk of “enslavement, conversion, and ransom”.
“Nigeria has long failed to protect its schoolchildren from jihadist and criminal abductions, and little has changed,” he wrote.
“As the U.S. engages the Nigerian government on the persecution of its most vulnerable citizens, we will continue to hold them accountable.”
His comments come amid recent attacks and abductions in Nigeria.
On Monday, gunmen attacked Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi state, and kidnapped 25 female students.
Hassan Makuku, the school’s vice principal, lost his life during the attack, while Ali Shehu, a security guard, sustained gunshot injuries to his right hand.
Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi, spokesperson of the Kebbi police command, said the assailants were “armed with sophisticated weapons”.
President Bola Tinubu said the kidnapping occurred despite prior “intelligence warnings of a possible attack by bandits”.
Decrying the security breach that led to the abduction, the president urged communities across Nigeria, especially those in areas facing security challenges, to share timely information and intelligence with the military, police, and the Department of State Services (DSS).
US President Donald Trump has threatened military action in Nigeria “if the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians”.
The Tinubu-led federal government has repeatedly pushed back on US claims of targeted killing of Christians in Nigeria.
