Desolate

Since Boko Haram's insurgency erupted in 2009, jihadist groups have established strongholds in Nigeria's vast game reserves and national parks, taking advantage of their remoteness and limited security presence.

The sprawling Old Oyo Forest Reserve straddles Oyo State and central Kwara State.

Ahoro-Esinele and Yawota had no security presence before the attacks. A military detachment is now stationed at one of the schools targeted in the raid.

Still, both farming towns looked desolate, with several houses and businesses shuttered when AFP visited.

Nigerian police have announced a new 24-hour emergency line for school-related emergencies.

But a community leader, David Oladele Taiwo, told AFP the attackers had exploited a communications blackout in the area. Jihadists have long used similar conditions in northeastern Nigeria.

A local hunter, Waliu Aje, told AFP a joint team of troops, men from a state-owned paramilitary outfit known as Amotekun, and fellow hunters had engaged in a two-hour firefight with the kidnappers on May 16.

"We took about 40 motorcycles and rode for about five hours into the reserve," Aje told AFP. "They started shooting at us when they heard the sound of our motorcycles."

He said one person had been killed and several injured by a "bomb" hidden in a motorcycle abandoned by the kidnappers.

"All hands are on deck to make sure that those children and their teachers are brought back safe soon," Fayoade Adegoke, a deputy inspector general of police, told AFP after meeting with victims' families.

'No one is safe'

The attack is fuelling fears of jihadist expansion into southwestern Nigeria.

And it is a major headache for President Bola Tinubu, who is seeking re-election in January.

At the beginning of the month, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) told primary and secondary school teachers in the state "to withdraw... services from schools... till further notice".

"We don't feel safe," said Gbeko Fatai, a 54-year-old teacher in nearby Iseyin. "If (the kidnapping) could have happened to them there, honestly, no one is safe."

He told AFP he feared that the situation could lead to a decline in school enrolment if unchecked.

The union's chairman in the state, Hassan Ajibola Fatai, said it was discussing new security measures - including perimeter fencing - for schools, especially those in vulnerable rural areas.

"(The government) has taken the security of our schools very seriously, and when those things materialise, we will then call off the strike," he told AFP.