Gunmen in northwestern Nigeria’s Kebbi state freed 30 students and a teacher after seven months in captivity, according to a local official.
According to the United Nations, more than 1,400 children were abducted in Nigeria last year, mainly during attacks on schools and universities by armed men known locally as “bandits”.
Students are usually released quickly after ransom payments, but 200 were still missing as of September, the UN added.
Thirty students from the College of Federal Government and a teacher arrived at Birnin Kebbi “after his release,” said Yahaya Sarki, spokesman for the Kebbi state governor, on Saturday night.
“They will undergo medical examinations and support while reuniting with their families,” he added in a statement.
It was unclear if ransom was paid for the release of the students or if there were others still in captivity.
Last June, gunmen stormed the university in Yauri city and seized 102 students and eight staff members, according to the school.
The attack was confirmed by police but did not say how many students or teachers were kidnapped.
Security personnel rescued eight of the kidnapped students and a teacher, while the bodies of three students were found in the bush.
The kidnappers released 27 students and three staff members in October, while an unspecified number were released after their parents negotiated with the captors.
Clashes between herders and farmers over access to land have plagued northwestern and central Nigeria for years, with some groups turning into criminal gangs now terrorizing local communities.
Since last year, gangs have escalated kidnappings on the highways and mass kidnappings of students.
On Wednesday, the Nigerian government issued an official bulletin declaring the bandits’ activities as “acts of terrorism.”
President Muhammadu Buhari, a former army general, is also fighting a more than a decade-long jihadist insurgency in the northeast and separatist tensions in the southeast of the country.