Nigeria has imposed a nationwide security emergency as President Bola Tinubu ordered sweeping measures to confront a surge in terrorist attacks and mass school abductions. The declaration follows a string of violent incidents that have intensified public pressure on the government to restore stability.
Tinubu has authorised major recruitment drives across the security services. The Nigeria Police Force will hire an additional 20,000 officers, raising its strength to 50,000. Police authorities have also been cleared to convert National Youth Service Corps camps into temporary training centres. Officers previously assigned to VIP protection are to be recalled for rapid retraining before deployment to high-risk regions, while the Department of State Services has been directed to immediately deploy its trained forest guards to flush out armed groups operating from remote forest zones.
Security at churches and mosques will now include routine searches, especially before prayer gatherings. State governments have been instructed to relocate vulnerable schools to safer areas as attacks intensify. The measures follow a deadly week in which terrorists carried out coordinated assaults on educational institutions. On November 25, authorities freed 24 schoolgirls kidnapped earlier on November 17, and between November 20 and 21, more than 300 students were abducted in Niger State. At least 50 have since returned.
Ten of Nigeria’s 36 states have closed schools due to security concerns, while additional army and police units have been deployed to the hardest-hit regions. Tinubu has suspended all foreign travel as the crisis deepens, focusing government attention on domestic security operations.
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