Nigerian kidnappers demand $620,000 ransom to release school hostages

Armed men who abducted 286 students and staff from a school in northern Nigeria last week have demanded a total of 1 billion naira ($620,432) for their release, Reuters reported.

The school children, some older students and members of the school staff were kidnapped on March 7 in the town of Kuriga, in Nigeria’s northwestern Kaduna State, in the first mass kidnapping in the country since 2021.

According to a community leader, the gunmen have given an ultimatum to pay the ransom within 20 days, effective from the date of the kidnap. “They said they will kill all the students and the staff if the ransom demand is not met,” Jubril Aminu added.