Nigeria declares security emergency

HARARE | TASS | Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has announced a security emergency in the country and additional recruitment to the army and police, his special adviser on information and strategy Bayo Onanuga said on X.

“Today, taking into account the emerging security emergency, I have decided to declare a national security emergency and ordered additional recruitment to the Armed Forces. The police will recruit an additional 20,000 people, its number will reach 50,000. The police authorities are, by this statement, authorised to use various National Youth Service Corps camps as training depots. The officers being withdrawn from VIP guard duties should undergo crash training to debrief them and deliver more efficient police services when deployed to security-challenged areas of the country. The DSS also has my authority to immediately deploy all the forest guards already trained to flush out the terrorists and bandits lurking in our forests,” the statement said.

The president said that military personnel will regularly search churches and mosques, especially before prayers. State authorities have been asked to move schools to safer locations.

Over the past couple of days, terrorists attacked several schools. On November 25, the government released 24 schoolgirls taken hostage on November 17. On the night of November 20-21, more than 300 students were abducted in the Niger state. On November 23, 50 of them returned home.

Due to the increased attacks on schools, Tinubu canceled foreign trips. The governments of 10 out of the 36 states closed schools for security reasons. Additional army and police forces were sent there.