Press Statement
ActionAid Nigeria knows that rescue work has been ongoing since the attack. However, while these steps are recognised, they are not enough to reassure families who have faced nearly two weeks of painful waiting.
As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to celebrate Children's Day tomorrow, ActionAid Nigeria is seized with profound grief, outrage, and alarm over the harrowing reality facing dozens of children and their teachers who remain in captivity following the brutal and coordinated terrorist attack on schools in the Ahoro-Esinele and Yawota communities of Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State on Friday, May 15, 2026. And as of the time of this statement, none of the abducted pupils or teachers has been reported released.
Speaking from Abuja, ActionAid Nigeria's Country Director, Dr Andrew Mamedu, stated:
Tomorrow, while children across the world are being celebrated and praised, 25 children wait in a forest, kept from their families, their schools, and their hopes. This is more than just a failure to keep them safe; it is a deep moral problem. Each child taken from the schools in Oriire means the world to someone. Their parents and the community they were snatched from remain traumatised.
ActionAid Nigeria knows that rescue work has been ongoing since the attack. However, while these steps are recognised, they are not enough to reassure families who have faced nearly two weeks of painful waiting.
Dr Mamedu continued: "We commend every security officer risking their lives to bring these children home. But assurances, promises, and briefings are not enough. Nigerian families and these children need results now. The government at all levels must treat the recovery of every abducted person as a national emergency, demanding every resource and all political will and intelligence this country has."
Children's Day reminds us that society must protect, care for, and ensure the rights and safety of all children. It is a day to honour the dignity, innocence, and potential of young people. That Nigerian children are spending this day in captivity, taken from their schools in broad daylight, is a painful contradiction that should push all levels of government and every institution in the country to act quickly and firmly.
"It is shocking," Dr Mamedu declared, "that children who went to school looking for an education, one of the most basic rights any child can have, instead faced gunfire and terror. School must be a safe place. When children are not safe in their classrooms, when teachers are killed for coming to teach, and when families fear sending their children to school, then Nigeria has failed its children. Totally and badly failed them."
ActionAid Nigeria, therefore, demands:
Federal Government of Nigeria: Take immediate action using all available intelligence, military, and diplomatic resources to secure the release of the abducted children and teachers. Ensure that the Presidency's promises result in coordinated, visible actions on the ground, treating this incident as a critical threat to national sovereignty.
Oyo State Government: Actively pursue all avenues for the safe release of the victims, including engagement, negotiation, and rescue operations. Guarantee that the safety and dignity of the abductees are not compromised, and keep families informed and supported throughout the process.
National Assembly and Oyo State House of Assembly: Hold emergency sessions focused solely on the ongoing security crisis in affected communities. Allocate the resources needed to improve community, school, and intelligence security in vulnerable areas, so children can learn safely.
Security Agencies: Use your full capacity to rescue all 25 children and 7 teachers without delay. Every moment lost increases the risk to their lives.
"Nigeria cannot celebrate its children with banners and speeches while many of them are held captive in a forest," Dr Mamedu said. "Truly celebrating our children means keeping them safe, ensuring their right to go to school, and letting them be free. Anything else is a national shame we should not allow."
ActionAid Nigeria fully supports the families of the kidnapped children and teachers, the Ahoro-Esinele community, and every group in Nigeria living in fear of attacks. We ask civil groups, faith leaders, the media, and all Nigerians to keep these children in mind until each one is safely home. Children of Nigeria deserve to be celebrated, not mourned. They deserve classrooms, not captivity. They deserve a future, and it is the responsibility of the Nigerian state to guarantee it.
Bring them home. Now.
Signed,
Andrew Mamedu Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria
Editors' Notes
ActionAid Nigeria is an organisation that works to end poverty and inequality in Nigeria. We are part of ActionAid International, which is active in 45 countries. AAN stands with people facing poverty and being left out, working for fairness, equal rights for women and men, and to end poverty. We want a fair and lasting world where everyone lives with dignity, free from poverty and unfair treatment.