Wednesday, November 27 2025 – Abuja_ – Facing a sharp rise in kidnappings, banditry and terrorist attacks, President Bola Tinubu announced a nationwide security emergency and ordered immediate steps to strengthen the country’s security apparatus.
In a statement signed by the president, the following measures were announced:
The police will hire an additional 20,000 officers, raising the force to 50,000. The army is also authorised to increase its ranks. Training will be conducted at existing facilities and at National Youth Service Corps camps, and officers currently assigned to VIP protection will undergo a crash‑course before redeployment to high‑risk areas.
The Department of State Services (DSS) has been instructed to mobilise all trained forest guards to flush out terrorists and bandits operating in forested zones. The agency is further directed to recruit more personnel for forest‑security duties.
The president called on the National Assembly to begin amending the law to permit states that wish to establish their own police forces to do so.
The federal government will back any state‑level security outfits that have been created to protect communities from armed groups.
States were urged to reconsider the construction of boarding schools in remote, insecure locations and to ensure that places of worship receive adequate police protection. The president also appealed to herder associations to abandon open grazing, surrender illegal weapons and adopt ranching under the newly created Ministry of Livestock.
Tinubu praised the armed forces and security agencies for recent successes, including the rescue of 24 schoolgirls in Kebbi and 38 worshippers in Kwara. He paid tribute to fallen soldiers, naming Brigadier‑General Musa Uba among those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
He warned th
at the government will not tolerate further attacks, urging Nigerians to remain calm, report suspicious activity and cooperate with security agencies. “We are in this fight together, and together we shall win,” the president said.
The declaration marks the latest in a series of government responses to a wave of kidnappings and violent attacks that have spread across several states in recent weeks. Lawmakers in both chambers have begun debating the president’s proposals, and the security agencies have intensified operations in the affected regions.
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