Welcome to the inquiry with me, Tanya Beckett, from the BBC World Service.
One question, four expert witnesses and an answer.
In November,
gunmen in northern Nigeria abducted over 300 pupils and 12 teachers from a Catholic school.
Weeks later, the country's authorities rescued 100 of the children from their kidnappers.
but the remainder of the pupils and 12 teachers are still believed to be in captivity.
Abductions have become a frequent occurrence in Nigeria and in November 2025,
the president, Bola Tanubu, declared the issue a national security emergency.
Human rights groups say hundreds and in some years thousands of people are abducted.
There's thought to be widespread underreporting due in part to fears of retaliation.
In 2022, the Nigerian government made the paying of ransoms illegal,
but that hasn't stopped it happening and it's also pledged to increase security in remote areas.
But the sheer numbers have provoked international consternation.
U.S.
President Donald Trump has talked of sending American troops to the country Meanwhile,
France's President Emmanuel Macron has offered help to defeat insecurity in Nigeria more broadly.
But with abductions still a regular occurrence,
this week on The Inquiry we're asking, how can Nigeria stop its kidnap crisis?
Kidnappings in Nigeria first exploded into the public consciousness just over a decade ago in 2014,
when 276 female students were abducted from their school in the northeast of Nigeria.