Nigerian schoolgirls who were abducted have been freed, according to an official

The state governor’s media assistant announced on Tuesday that twenty-four girls who were kidnapped from a government boarding school in northwest Nigeria last week had been freed.

Shortly after a military unit left the school, armed men raided the school in Kebbi state on November 17, seizing the girls. According to authorities, the attack led to a surge of similar kidnappings in the states of Kwara and Niger.

Bola Tinubu, the president of Nigeria, praised the girls’ liberation on Tuesday and urged security personnel to step up their efforts to rescue additional hostages.

“I’m relieved that all 24 of the girls have been found. To prevent additional kidnapping incidents, we urgently need to increase the number of people on the ground in the areas that are most at risk. “My government will provide all the support required to accomplish this,” Tinubu declared.

In northern Nigeria, where armed gangs frequently overpower local security personnel and target schools and rural villages, mass kidnappings for ransom have become the norm.