Responding to a critical surge in banditry, raids, and mass kidnappings, including recent attacks on soft targets across states like Niger, Kebbi, and Kwara, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared a nationwide security emergency and issued immediate, targeted directives for personnel redeployment and training.
To address the immediate crisis, the President ordered that police officers currently assigned to Very Important Person (VIP) guard duties must undergo crash training for debriefing and operational readiness. The directive makes their deployment explicit: they are to be moved to security-challenged areas of the country to deliver more efficient police services.
In a focused effort to neutralize criminal strongholds, the Department of State Services (DSS) has been authorized to immediately deploy all already trained forest guards. This unit’s primary mission is to “flush out the terrorists and bandits lurking in our forests.” The DSS was also given a directive to recruit additional men specifically to man these forests, with the President warning that “There will be no more hiding places for agents of evil.”
The President authorized the recruitment of an additional 20,000 police officers, bringing the total planned intake for the year to 50,000 personnel. Furthermore, the Nigerian Army was directed to immediately embark on a fresh recruitment drive to boost manpower across various theaters of operation. To speed up the deployment of new recruits, President Tinubu approved the temporary use of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camps as police training depots, in addition to ongoing upgrades of police colleges.
