Bandits who abducted 286 students and staff from a school in northern Nigeria last week have demanded a total of N1 billion ($620,432) for their release, a spokesman for the families of the hostages and a local councillor, has told Reuters. The school children, some older students and members of the school staff were abducted on March 7 in the town of Kuriga, in Nigeria’s northwestern Kaduna State, in the first mass kidnapping in the country since 2021. A community leader, Jubril Aminu, who acted as a spokesman for the families of the hostages, said he had received a call on his phone from the kidnappers on Tuesday. “They made a total of a 1 billion (naira) ransom demand for all the pupils, students, and staff of the school. They gave 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.”
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