The federal government on Thursday launched a renewed offensive against terrorism and kidnapping, declaring that no effort would be spared to rescue abducted schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo and Borno states as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered the deployment of a specialised rescue team and approved the recruitment of 1,000 forest guards to strengthen security across vulnerable communities.
Speaking at a special national security briefing tagged #UniteAgainstTerror in Abuja, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the recent abductions of schoolchildren and teachers constituted a direct assault on Nigeria’s future and would be met with the full force of the state.
Delivering President Tinubu’s message to Nigerians, Idris declared: “No child belongs in captivity.”
He assured distraught families that the safe return of every abducted child and teacher remained a top priority of the federal government, stressing that all security and intelligence agencies had been mobilised to secure their freedom and bring perpetrators to justice.
“The president has directed that every lawful instrument available to the Nigerian state be deployed towards achieving this objective,” the minister said, revealing that a specialised rescue team had already been activated while additional security personnel would be deployed through the recruitment of forest guards.
The minister disclosed that intelligence gathering, aerial surveillance, community engagement and coordinated search-and-rescue operations were ongoing in both Oyo and Borno States, where terrorists reportedly abducted dozens of schoolchildren.
He said the administration’s security strategy goes beyond military force, describing it as an intelligence-driven approach backed by a comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria’s security architecture, including plans to institutionalise state policing.
According to him, Tinubu is determined to leave behind a modern policing system capable of responding effectively to local security challenges.
Highlighting achievements recorded since the administration came into office in May 2023, Idris said hundreds of terrorists, bandits and criminal elements had been neutralised, arrested or compelled to surrender, while numerous kidnapping victims had been rescued nationwide.
He cited recent military victories in the North-East, where troops of Operation Hadin Kai repelled multiple terrorist incursions along the Kirawa-Pulka and Ngoshe corridors in Borno State, killing over 50 insurgents, including key commanders.
The minister further disclosed that approximately 1,000 terrorists, among them several top leaders, were eliminated in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
