The Borno State Government on Saturday confirmed it has received a proof-of-life video of students abducted from Government Day Secondary School in Lassa, Askira/Uba Local Government Area.
Abba Wakilbe, Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, played the 15-second video during a slide presentation at the Borno State Education Summit in Maiduguri.
The summit, themed “Strengthening Safe, Inclusive and Gender-Responsive Education: Building Back Better,” was held in partnership with the Malala Fund.
The students were kidnapped on June 29. Wakilbe stated that the government is actively working to secure their release.
“Since the Chibok abduction, we have not had such an issue. Not until recently did we have the issue in Mussa and subsequently in Lassa,” he said. “From the Lassa abduction, we have 36 in captivity. Out of the 36, there are 25 girls and 11 boys.”
He noted that authorities still have no information on students abducted earlier from the Mussa community.
The commissioner described attacks on schools as a serious threat to education in the state, warning that failure to stop them would reverse the progress achieved.
He appealed to residents and development partners to support efforts to protect schools and promote education.
A frame from the video showed the abducted students seated on the ground, some in the uniform of Government Day Secondary School, Lassa, with two armed men standing behind them holding a flag with Arabic inscriptions. Officials declined to release the full video when approached by The PUNCH.
This incident adds to ongoing security concerns in Borno, where earlier reports indicated that dozens of students remained in captivity following multiple school abductions.
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