The Federal Government has said that it has plans to train some newly recruited personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory as the School Safety Protection Squad to curb cases of abduction of schoolchildren. The Commander of the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre of the NSCDC, Hammed Abodunrin, disclosed this in an interview with news men on Sunday just as the Defence Headquarters confirmed that troops had rescued 137 abducted pupils of the LEA Primary School and the Government Secondary School Kuriga in the Chikun Local Government Area, Kaduna, within Zamfara State. This came the President received the news of the release of the Kuriga schoolchildren, as well as the release of pupils of a Tsangaya school in Sokoto State, commending all the parties involved in the feat for their valiant efforts. The Defence Headquarters announced that 137 Kaduna schoolchildren were rescued but it did not explain what happened to the remaining as 287 pupils were kidnapped from the schools on March 7, 2024. On March 7, 2024, there were reports that 287 pupils and teachers of LEA Primary School and the Government Secondary School Kuriga in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State were abducted by suspected terrorists who took them into the forest. Their abductors subsequently requested a ransom of N1bn for their release, setting a deadline of March 27, 2024, for the payment. The Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj Gen, Buba, in a statement on Sunday, stated that the victims were rescued in the early hours of Sunday by the troops with support from local authorities and government agencies. Buba put the number of the rescued victims at 137, comprising 76 females and 61 males, adding that they were rescued in Zamfara State and would be conveyed to Kaduna where they would be handed over to the state government.