Defence Minister Christopher Musa has scored the Tinubu administration 65 to 70 per cent on security performance.
He said terrorism had been drastically reduced to isolated kidnapping incidents, even as a wave of school abductions across several states continues to be a big challenge for the nation.
Musa spoke on ARISE News on Friday to mark three years of the administration.
“I’ll give ourselves 65 to 70,” he said when asked to rate the government’s performance, adding that no nation was entirely free from crime.
“Yes. 65 to 70%. No nation is totally free from crime and criminality. I’m sure you are aware that the level of terrorism across the country has actually drastically reduced. Now we have acts of terrorism, and terrorism, like I said, is a social vice, a failure of family values,” he said.
The minister framed kidnapping largely as a societal crisis rather than a security failure, pointing to the breakdown of family structure as the root cause.
“We have fathers kidnapping children, children kidnapping each other, brothers kidnapping sisters. It tells you that something is wrong with the family, and we need to look inward to see how we can develop those aspects,” he said.
His comments come days after a wave of school abductions jolted the country.
At least 82 pupils were abducted between May 13 and 15 during separate attacks in Borno and Oyo states.
In Borno, 42 pupils were kidnapped after armed groups attacked schools in Askira Uba and Chibok local government areas on May 13 and 14.
In Oyo, another 40 pupils were abducted on May 15 during coordinated attacks on Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota, Community Grammar School, and L.A. Primary School, Esiele, in Oriire Local Government Area.
During the Oyo attack, mathematics teacher Michael Oyedokun was beheaded by the gunmen, a motorcyclist was killed, and a security operative died after running into improvised explosive devices planted by the abductors during early rescue attempts.
The Defence Headquarters attributed the Oyo kidnapping to terrorists of the JAS group that had been dislodged from other parts of the country due to high-intensity military operations.
Following the Borno attack, the state government temporarily closed and relocated Government Day Secondary School, Mussa, in Askira/Uba Local Government Area.
Amnesty International said at least 1,100 people had been abducted from January to April 2026 alone, describing the trend as a continuing failure of protection for vulnerable populations.
