Inspiring! FGC Yauri Girls Beat Kidnapping Trauma, Shine Bright in 2025 JAMB Exam

In a touching development, PRNigeria reports that five of the schoolgirls who were abducted from Federal Government College in Birnin Yauri and saved from the grasp of armed bandits in 2023 have now scored highly in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

With their performance on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) exam, the pupils disproved the odds that were set against their hopes of a future that had once been all but taken away.

The girls, who were once the victims of a horrific kidnapping that lasted up to 707 days for some, have become icons of fortitude and unwavering spirit after achieving high enough scores to be admitted to a Nigerian university.

Three of the girls received scores higher than 220, with the highest being 225, according to UTME results made public by JAMB. Only one participant received a score below 200, while one received a score of 217.

Hafsat Murtala (aggregate: 222), Faiza Ahmed (225), Esther Sunday (217), Rebecca James (225), and Neemphere Daniel (177) are among the individuals that took the 2025 exam, according to PRNigeria. They were all part of the 11 girls that were abducted when bandits broke into their school in Kebbi State on June 17, 2021.

Salim Ka’oje, chairman of the committee of parents of 11 abducted students, responded to their performances by saying that the outcomes were a tribute to perseverance and recovery rather than merely grades on paper.

“It was a miracle they made it back to the classroom after everything they had to endure,” Ka’oje remarked. “These scores are evidence of bravery, defiance, and the will to overcome trauma; they are more than just UTME results.”

According to multiple accounts in 2023, some of the kids had become adolescent moms or were pregnant at the time of their release, and PRNigeria recalled that the students had been held captive for months, some for almost two years.

A sequence of hard talks, frequently led by their parents and backed by well-meaning Nigerians, led to their freedom.

The parents of the girls made a nationwide appeal for financial assistance after notorious bandit chief Dogo Gide demanded an N100 million ransom for their release.

After payments made by friends, family, and concerned Nigerians, the kidnapped students were eventually freed in phases between April and May 2023.

It has not been an easy road from trauma to victory. After being freed, the majority of the girls had to start their schooling over. Some struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, some had kids to look after, and some were first reluctant to go back to school. But they persisted.

“The fact that they scored at all, not that they received high grades, is what makes this moment noteworthy,” Ka’oje added. They didn’t give up. They refused to allow the violence they had experienced to dictate how they lived the rest of their lives.

The accomplishments of the FGC Yauri ladies have been highly hailed as inspirational and symbolic, despite being modest by competitive entrance standards.

Many believe that the girls’ academic success will serve as a focal point for national efforts to rehabilitate insurgent and armed conflict victims, particularly those enrolled in educational institutions.

Their UTME performance is now being celebrated as a powerful national symbol that urges society to safeguard, support, and invest in the potential of all Nigerian children, particularly those who have been harmed by conflict, rather than just as a personal victory.