President Bola Tinubu has declared a national security emergency, authorizing significant recruitment into the police and DSS, deploying forest guards, and calling for reforms like state police and an end to open grazing.
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday announced sweeping security measures, authorising the police and army to recruit more personnel, including “an additional 20,000 officers, bringing the total to 50,000.” He directed that NYSC camps be used as police training depots and ordered crash training for officers withdrawn from VIP duties for redeployment to troubled areas.
Tinubu also empowered the DSS “to immediately deploy all the forest guards already trained” and to recruit more personnel, warning that “there will be no more hiding places for agents of evil.” Declaring the situation a “national emergency,” he commended security agencies for the rescue of abducted victims in Kebbi and Kwara, while pledging continued efforts to free others still held.
Tinubu urged discipline within the military, support for state security outfits, and legislative review to allow states seeking state police to establish them. He also called on herders to embrace ranching and surrender illegal weapons. Paying tribute to security personnel who died in recent attacks, he warned that those testing the government’s resolve “should never mistake our restraint for weakness,” urging Nigerians to stay calm, vigilant, and united in defending national peace.