Govment neva make any meaningful effort to rescue Niger State kidnapped students - Bishop Bulus Yohana

Di Catholic Bishop of di Diocese of Kotangora, Niger State, Bulus Dauwa Yohana, don tok say govment authorities no dey make "any meaningful effort" to rescue di students of St. Mary's School in Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area, wey bandits kidnap on 21 November 2025.

Bishop Yohana, wey also be di President of Di Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for Niger State, tok to BBC News for exclusive interview, three days afta di attack.

CAN bin tok say di total number of pipo wey di bandits bin kidnap na 315 including students and teachers, but as di days go by, some parents tok say dia children come back.

Di Bishop explain say e no be like say govment rescue di students, but dem bin escape dat night as di jaguda pipo bin pack dem dey enta bush.

E explain say even though e no take im eyes see di students wey return, e rely on reports from parents and some of di teachers, and say currently di total number of pipo wey dey miss na 265.

"I no dey aware of any effort wey di govment don make apart from collecting di names of di students from us," e tok.

Bishop Yohana also tok say di bandits neva reach out to am or to anibodi wey im know to make any demand before dem go release di students.

Niger State get di highest number of out of school children for Nigeria, and di Catholic cleric say dis incident fit further reduce di number of pipo children wey dey enrol for schools.

"Like our school dia, you go notice say e bin dey veri difficult for us to get dem to enrol. 95% of di pupils dia na from di villages dem come and dat na why e dey difficult to enrol dem. Now as dem hear say dis tin don hapun, e go affect di school bicos many parents go dey fear say if my pikin go, dem go abduct am," di Bishop tok.

Also, about di issue of Christian persecution for some regions of Nigeria especially di North, Bishop Yohana say di persecution dey real but e dey come in different ways depending on di part of Nigeria wia you dey.

"For us for dis part, di persecution dey come in form of small-small discrimination for Christians and denial of opportunities. For example, before you build church, you go pass through so many protocol before dem go give you access. Sometimes wen you buy land and wen dem discover say na Christians, dem go return di money. So na dis small-small kind of discrimination na im we dey suffer for here."

'We deploy enuf police to Papiri - Police chief

Di Niger state police commissioner, Adamu Abdullahi Elleman tell BBC say dem deploy enuf officers to Papiri, di community wia kidnappers bin abduct students and teachers of St. Mary's Catholic Church last Friday.

Di BBC bin report say security presence bin no dey for Papiri wen our tori pipo bin visit di school but di police oga insist say tactical police team and oda security agencies dey stationed for di community.

Our tori pipo bin drive about 60 kilometres from Yauri to Papiri community but na only one police checkpoint dem meet and none of di officers bin carry gun.

Wen dem reach di school, BBC toti pipo bin meet three police officers and none of dem carry gun.

"Na Agwara police headquarters be our operational base, so, dem (di police officers) bin move from Agwara police station to di school. E fit be say wen una (BBC) reach dia, dem don go back to di headquarters," oga Elleman tok.

E tok say active search dey currently go on for di kidnapped school children and dia teachers.

On Sunday, di Christian association for Niger state bin announce say 50 children bin escape betwin Friday and Saturday and dem don reunite wit dia families.

Elleman say di school neva 'report' to im command. E accuse di school management say dem no dey collaborate wit security forces for di search and rescue operation.

Wetin govment dey do?

President Bola Tinubu tok say im administration dey work hard to make sure say evri citizen and evri region of di kontri dey safe.

On 23 November, 2025, Tinubu bin get meeting wit all di head of di various armed forces including di Nigeria police, and e tok say di meeting na to "review di latest reports and take decisive actions to stabilise di affected areas and protect our citizens".

"As president, I dey fully committed to di security of all Nigerians. Di pipo wey dey threaten di peace and security of our nation go face di full weight of di law."

Also on Monday, di presidency announce say di United States of America don agree to partner wit Nigeria to improve security for di kontri.

Dis dey come afta di National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, and oda top govment pipo dem bin travel to di US to tok wit officials of di kontri sake of di allegation wey di US govment make say Nigeria na place wia Christians dey face "genocide".

Tok-tok pesin for di president, Bayo Onanuga, for im statement say: "Di United States govment say dem dey ready to deepen security cooperation wit Nigeria. Dis include enhanced intelligence support, fast-fast processing of defence equipment requests... to reinforce ongoing operations against terrorists and violent extremist groups".