KADA president Nkeki Mutah said more than half of the area’s towns and villages had been destroyed, with many displaced residents unable to return to their farmland.

Mutah said the attacks appeared to deliberately target the Chibok community and called for special protection from authorities at all levels. He also urged the government to support humanitarian access to Kibaku and increase military deployments to the area.

The appeal follows recent attacks on Christian communities in Chibok that local media blamed on Boko Haram. The town remains globally associated with the 2014 abduction of 276 schoolgirls by the militant group, with dozens still missing.

In a separate similar raid , assailants attacked St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State on November 21, abducting both pupils and staff.

Kidnappings of children from schools have become a recurring nightmare in Nigeria. Between 2014 and December 2022, about 1,683 students were kidnapped, according to a Save the Children–backed report .

The trend has roots in both ideological and criminal violence, while Boko Haram once drew international attention with mass abductions, today many kidnappings are carried out by loosely organised “bandit” groups whose primary motive appears to be ransom.

What makes schools particularly vulnerable is the combination of weak security and the profitability of these attacks. Many of the perpetrators are well-armed, operating in remote or semi-remote areas, and they exploit gaps in state protection.

In the Kebbi raid, for example, the attackers came on motorcycles, scaled a fence, and exchanged fire with police before fleeing into nearby forests, a terrain they know well. Once students are taken, they often disappear into these hideouts, making rescue operations complex and high-risk.

Despite past efforts, initiatives such as Nigeria’s Safe School Initiative have struggled to keep pace with the scale of the threat. Many schools remain under-protected, and communities in affected regions live in constant fear.

“The country is no longer safe for its children,” A Catholic bishop said after the St. Mary’s Catholic School attack.

The human cost of all this goes beyond the immediate danger of abduction. Kidnapped students may suffer trauma, their families live in perpetual fear, and the fabric of education in affected areas is being eroded. Some schools have been closed down temporarily after attacks.

In response, Nigeria’s security forces have launched rescue operations. According to officials, teams are combing forests, deploying along escape routes, and intensifying intelligence-led missions.

But analysts warn that unless the root causes, poverty, weak state presence in rural areas, and the economic incentives driving bandits, are addressed, the cycle may well continue.

U.S. President Donald Trump recently claimed that Christians are being specifically targeted , citing figures that 3,100 of the 4,470 victims were Christian.

However, security experts dispute this assertion, noting that Islamist violence in Nigeria is often indiscriminate, affecting both Christians and Muslims alike.

Analysts emphasise that many of the deadliest attacks have struck Muslim-majority communities, and no reliable data proves Christians are disproportionately targeted.

Experts point instead to complex, overlapping causes behind the violence, from struggles over political power and land disputes to deep-rooted ethnic tensions.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s military remains overstretched, underfunded, and mired in corruption , leaving it unable to sustain gains against insurgents who have adapted with new funding networks, local alliances, and control of rural zones.

It is real. It is devastating. But the narrative of Christians versus Muslims misses the complexity.

The perpetrators are not one monolithic force. Boko Haram and its splinter group ISWAP are part of it. But so are armed Fulani militias clashing with farmers over land. And criminal syndicates run kidnapping rackets where ransom is the real motive.

In Kaduna State’s Rijana area, jihadist camps are believed to be holding 850 Christians hostage. Those whose families cannot pay are killed.

When framed only as religious persecution , the world risks missing the deeper drivers: weak governance, economic desperation, corruption, and even climate change.

The role of the state

Advocacy groups like Intersociety have accused elements of Nigeria’s security forces of complicity in kidnappings and killings. Sometimes they look away. Sometimes worse.

That blurs the line between counterinsurgency and persecution. Nigeria’s crisis is not only about insurgents, but also about governance failures and the erosion of trust between citizens and the state.

Borders that protect insurgents, not citizens

On paper, Nigeria has one of Africa’s largest militaries. In reality, insurgents move freely across porous borders with Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.

These borders slow down Nigerian troops, who are often tied up in checkpoints and bureaucracy. But for insurgents, rivers, forests, and deserts are open highways. Weapons and fighters flow across with little resistance.

It is a cruel irony: the very lines drawn to define nations protect insurgents while trapping citizens.

ECOWAS delays as villages burn

In August, ECOWAS announced a bold plan: a 260,000-strong joint counter-terrorism force, at a cost of $2.5 billion annually.

The need is urgent. West Africa accounted for 51% of global terrorism deaths in 2024. Over a thousand insurgent groups are believed to be active.

But the plan is stalled. Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso pulled out of ECOWAS in January. Without them, intelligence sharing breaks down, and the joint force is weakened.

While ECOWAS delays, villages are attacked, churches fall, and displacement camps fill. Insurgents don’t wait for budget approvals.

Why framing matters

When the world sees only “Christians under fire from jihadists,” the response is militarised: send troops, sell weapons, declare war on terror. That framing sometimes benefits factions within states, particularly armies that want the problem seen purely as jihadist groups carving out a caliphate.

But when reframed, the picture shifts. It shows displaced families trapped in ransom economies, local peacebuilding efforts that rarely get support, and communities whose survival depends on more than soldiers.

Nigeria’s stability matters far beyond its borders. With over 220 million people, its collapse would destabilise all of West Africa. Yet too often Africa is portrayed as a backdrop for violence.

The Global South lens forces new questions: What about the millions of Muslims in Nigeria who reject extremism? What about economic and climate drivers of conflict? And what about international partners who see Africa mainly as a security threat or a source of unwanted migrants?

Reframing the “Islamic State” in Africa

Yes, a new Islamic State is taking shape. Militants control swathes of territory, and their influence is expanding. But just as in Syria and Iraq, religion is only one piece of the puzzle.

Poverty, displacement, and survival are the real drivers fracturing communities. Groups that provide some form of order or resources, often Islamist militants, win allegiance not because of ideology, but because of need.

When reframed, the story is not simply about a religious war. It’s about failed governance, porous borders, delayed regional action, and communities abandoned in the middle.

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World Reframed is produced in London by  Global South  World, part of the Impactum Group. Its editors are Duncan Hooper and Ismail Akwei.

ISSN 2978-4891