Forty-six people, most of them children, were kidnapped during a rare attack on three schools in southwest Nigeria last week, the Christian Association of Nigeria said on Monday.

Elisha Olukayode Ogundiya, the Christian association chairperson in Oyo state, said that "46 persons, mostly children" aged from two to 16 were seized in the attacks in the southwestern state on Friday.

In what police on Friday called a "coordinated attack", gunmen simultaneously raided Baptist Nursery and Primary in Yawota, and two other schools in Esiele, abducting pupils and teachers.

President Bola Tinubu on Monday condemned the attack as "barbaric", while promising that the federal government was working with the Oyo state to "rescue all the victims."

President expects 'a breakthrough' in search and rescue

"We expect a breakthrough soon," he said in a statement released by his office.

No group has claimed responsibility for the Oyo state attack, but the governor Seyi Makinde said late on Sunday that seven teachers were captured and one was killed by the "terrorists", suspected to be fleeing intensified military operations in the country's northwest.

"With the pressure on the terrorists and the bandits in the northwest, they will keep moving southward," the governor said.

School kidnappings are rare in Oyo, one of Nigeria's most populous states and whose capital Ibadan is a major educational hub.

Other incidents

Five forest guards were killed at a game reserve in the state in January, in an attack the police said was carried out by an "armed banditry syndicate."

The latest abduction brings to nearly 90 the number of people missing from schools across the country after attacks last week.

At least 42 children were taken from a school in Borno state last week, according to a local lawmaker.

At least 10 of the children kidnapped from Mussa village were aged between two and three years, according to a list shared by one of the community members.