In a sweeping response to the nation’s spiraling insecurity, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu today declared a nationwide security emergency, immediately ordering a massive expansion of the country’s security workforce.
The President’s directive includes an order for the police authorities to recruit an additional 20,000 officers, effectively increasing the total approved recruitment drive to 50,000 personnel to rapidly address the significant manpower deficit in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
The declaration, which followed a high-level security briefing, is the latest in a series of urgent measures aimed at tackling the recent mass abductions and the persistent threat of banditry. The move is designed to complement the earlier directive for the withdrawal of over 100,000 police officers from the protection of Very Important Persons (VIPs), freeing them up for core public safety duties.
To expedite the training and deployment of the new recruits, the President authorized the use of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camps across the country as temporary training facilities. This measure is intended to overcome the current capacity limitations of existing police training schools, which are already struggling with the demands of the initial recruitment tranche.
Presidential Mandate: The goal is to rapidly “boost police presence in all communities,” shifting focus away from VIP protection towards frontline community policing and counter-insurgency operations.
The declaration of a security emergency signals the government’s recognition of the crisis’s severity and its commitment to using extraordinary measures to restore order and safeguard the lives and property of citizens.
