The schools are managed by the OLA Sisters and owned by the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora, which is part of the Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province.
Catholic religious sisters have raised alarm over the continued captivity of schoolchildren abducted from a Catholic school in Niger State, Nigeria, calling for urgent global intervention to secure their release.
In a press statement shared with Vatican News, the Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles (OLA) disclosed that some of the children still held by their captors are as young as five years old, noting that the incident has caused deep anguish among affected families, the local community, and the OLA Congregation.
The abduction occurred in the early hours of November 21, when an armed gang attacked the school community and forcefully took away 265 children and staff members from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri.
The schools are managed by the OLA Sisters and owned by the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora, which is part of the Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province.
Providing an update on the situation, the Congregation Leader of the OLA Sisters, Sr. Mary T. Barron, confirmed that some of the victims had been freed but said many others remain in captivity under dire conditions.
The statement said, "It was with great joy we welcomed the news on 14 December that 100 people had been freed: 14 secondary school students, 1 staff member, 80 primary school children and 5 nursery school children.
“However, this joy is tempered with ongoing anguish and concern for the safety of the remaining 165: – 11 staff members, 35 children from the nursery school and 119 from the Primary School. These children range from age 5 to 12/13.”
“They were abducted from their dormitories during the night and so are not even properly clothed. They are being kept in atrocious conditions in the forest. How much longer must their suffering endure?” she said.
Sr. Barron added that the OLA Sisters, alongside many others across the world, continue to pray for the protection and safe return of those still held captive.
“We are most grateful for the immense support we have received to date, and we ask all Religious Congregations, Catholic institutions, faith communities, and people of goodwill around the world to not relent in our efforts to support this community through our fervent prayer,” she said.
She also issued a direct appeal to political leaders and the international community to act swiftly to end the ordeal.
“We appeal also to all those who hold political power and influence to come to the aid of the Federal Government in Nigeria so these innocent children return to their communities immediately.
“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.’ We beg all those who have the power to act, to please do so in the interest of the safety and well-being of all these children,” the OLA Sisters leader said.
Earlier, SaharaReporters reported that the Federal Government secured the release of 100 schoolchildren abducted from St. Mary’s Private Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Niger State.
The children were part of the 315 people, 303 students and 12 teachers, seized when armed bandits stormed the remote community on November 21, 2025.
The attackers, riding on motorbikes, invaded the school around 2:00 a.m. and operated for nearly three hours, moving from dormitory to dormitory before herding their captives into the surrounding forests.
However, 50 pupils managed to escape within the first 24 hours.