Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has ordered security forces not to pay ransom for the release of close to 300 students and staff who were kidnapped from a school in north-western Kaduna state last week.

Mr Tinubu instead directed security agencies to ensure the release of all kidnapped victims without any payment to the kidnappers, the country’s Information Minister Mohammed Idris told reporters on Wednesday.

Mr Idris said the president had told forces searching for the pupils to make sure “not a dime is paid”.

Earlier, relatives of those taken said gunmen had demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars for the release of the students abducted from their school in Kuriga village.

There have been several mass kidnappings over the last week, including the seizure on Tuesday night of more than 60 people from a village also in Kaduna state.

Over the last three years hundreds of students have been abducted.

Some of the hostages have been released following negotiations with the authorities, although officials deny ransom payments are made.

A law passed in 2022 banned paying ransom to kidnappers.

The surge of large-scale abductions is challenging Mr Tinubu’s government, which had promised to tackle insecurity.