Nigeria: Special Report - Two School Abductions 45 Days Apart. What Happened to Borno's Safe Schools Measures?

What the report says

Premium Times, published by AllAfrica, reports that school security in parts of Borno State came under renewed scrutiny after two abductions hit communities in the Askira-Uba area within 45 days of each other. The report says officials visited Mussa, Dille and Lassa on 25 May, ten days after the Mussa abduction, and ordered Safe Schools measures to be carried out in affected schools. It also says Government Day Secondary School in Mussa was temporarily closed and relocated as an immediate precaution.

According to the article, suspected insurgents later attacked Government Day Secondary School in Lassa on 29 June while students were taking examinations. Premium Times says some pupils were initially recovered, but later verification found that 36 students and a teacher were still missing. The report says it was not clear what specific security steps, if any, were implemented in Lassa after the May assessment, despite the government’s announcement.

The article places the attacks in a broader context of repeated security concerns in Mussa, Lassa and nearby communities, noting that residents and lawmakers had raised the issue before the abductions. It also says insecurity has disrupted schooling more widely in Askira-Uba, where many primary schools were reportedly closed or operating below pre-crisis levels. The piece suggests that the effectiveness and coordination of Borno’s Safe Schools response remain in question, especially where state actions and the federal programme may not have aligned.