The Federal Government has launched a renewed offensive against terrorism and kidnapping, vowing to intensify efforts to rescue abducted schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo and Borno states.
According to Vanguard, following the incidents, President Bola Tinubu ordered the deployment of a specialised rescue team and approved the recruitment of 1,000 forest guards to strengthen security in vulnerable communities.
Speaking at a national security briefing tagged #UniteAgainstTerror in Abuja, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the abductions represent an attack on the nation’s future and assured that all security agencies have been mobilised.
Delivering Tinubu’s message, Idris said, “No child belongs in captivity.”
He added that the government has activated a specialised rescue team, intensified intelligence gathering, aerial surveillance, and community-based operations in Oyo State and Borno State.
“The President has directed that every lawful instrument available to the Nigerian state be deployed towards achieving this objective,” he said, adding that forest guard recruitment would boost internal security operations.
Idris said Nigeria’s security approach is now intelligence-driven and extends beyond military action, including planned reforms to establish state policing.
He also highlighted ongoing operations and claimed notable gains against terrorist and criminal groups nationwide.
He said troops recently killed over 50 insurgents in Borno, while about 1,000 terrorists were eliminated in the first quarter of 2026.
He also cited a joint Nigeria–U.S.-supported operation that disrupted Islamic State West Africa Province networks and led to the rescue of 92 civilians near Buratai.
According to him, 508 terrorism-related cases have been prosecuted, resulting in 386 convictions, while four terrorists were recently sentenced to death over the 2022 Owo church attack. Over 500 suspects are currently being tried.
He added that military pressure has also weakened bandit networks across Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Kogi and Kwara states, while maritime security gains have boosted crude oil production.
On Atiku Abubakar’s intervention, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar criticised the government’s counter-terrorism approach, warning that Nigeria is failing to adapt as terrorists refine their tactics.
“The terrorists are learning from every attack. They study their successes and failures. They refine their tactics. They identify vulnerabilities. They adapt and strike again. The question Nigerians must ask is simple: Why isn’t the government doing the same?
“From Chibok to Oyo, from countless villages in the North-West to communities across the Middle Belt and beyond, the pattern has become tragically familiar. A nation that refuses to learn from its tragedies is condemned to relive them,” he said.
He urged a full review of Nigeria’s counter-terrorism framework and proposed a Terrorism Violence Peer Review Mechanism to integrate lessons from affected communities into national strategy.
Atiku also called for specialised counter-terrorism fusion centres across the six geopolitical zones, improved intelligence sharing among security agencies, stronger border control, and aggressive disruption of terrorist financing networks.
He further advocated investment in surveillance technology, community intelligence systems, youth empowerment, and a National Victims and Survivors Support Framework for affected communities, while accusing the government of opacity in security spending and declining effectiveness despite rising budgets.
