The entire village of Kuriga rushed toward the convoy of buses, cheering "Our children are back!" and "Alhamdulillah," which means "Thank you, God," as they welcomed back over 100 students and staff who had been abducted in Nigeria's northwest earlier this month.

The army announced on Sunday that they had rescued 137 hostages - 76 females and 61 males - in the neighboring state of Zamfara, just days before a deadline to pay a 1 billion naira ($767,000) ransom for their release.

The students recounted being marched through the forest for over two weeks to avoid detection, sleeping under trees, eating half-cooked rice, and drinking dirty water.
Amina Alhassan, one of the kidnapped students, described the hardships they faced, including using their headscarves as sanitary pads, crying, and praying daily.
Tanko Musa, another freed student, mentioned that the kidnappers claimed the government had paid the ransom, allowing them to be released.

Despite Information Minister Mohammed Idris denying any ransom payment, a security source noted seeing 14 black bags presumed to contain the ransom money being delivered to where the students were held in Zamfara state.

Relieved parents gathered around the buses to see the children they had feared they may never see again.

"We had lost all hope of seeing our children again," expressed Yunusa Musa, whose two children were among those kidnapped.
Yunusa urged the Nigerian government to deploy soldiers in the area, allowing villagers to return to their farmland abandoned due to security concerns.

While abductions at Nigerian schools were initially carried out by Boko Haram, criminal gangs without ideological ties have now adopted this tactic to extort ransom money.
These frequent kidnappings, especially in northern Nigeria, have caused immense suffering for families and communities who often have to come together to gather the funds for ransom.

There have been no responses from Nigerian officials regarding whether a ransom was paid in this recent incident.