*Orders additional army, police recruitment
President Bola Tinubu has declared state of emergency on security in Nigeria, and ordered the police and the army to recruit more people to beef their personnel.
The police are told to recruit an additional 20,000 officers to bring the total of personnel to 50,000.
Tinubu noted in a statement that he had previously approved the nationwide upgrade of police training facilities, and added that police authorities are now authorised to use various National Youth Service Corps camps as training depots.
The president who had ordered withdrawal of police officers from VIP duties, said the officers should undergo crash training to debrief them to “deliver more efficient police services when deployed to security-challenged areas of the country.”
The Department of State Services (DSS), Tinubu also said, should immediately deploy all the forest guards already trained to flush out the terrorists and bandits lurking in the nation’s forests.
“The agency also has my directive to recruit more men to man the forests. There will be no more hiding places for agents of evil,” he declared.
This directive is coming days after series of kidnaps of school children in Niger and Kebbi States, as well as church worshippers in Oke-Isegun, Eruku in Kwara State.
The church worshippers and Kebbi schoolgirls have already been rescued, but Nigerians believed government paid ramson for their release, because no arrest have been made.
President Tinubu who received briefs from service chiefs on Sunday, described his action as national emergency, “and we are responding by deploying more boots on the ground, especially in security-challenged areas.
“The times require all hands on deck. As Nigerians, we should all get involved in securing our nation.”
He admitted that this is a challenging moment for the country, and for the military institution itself, and challenged them “to remain resolute, to restore peace across all theatres of operation, and to uphold the highest standards of discipline and integrity.”
He warned them that there must be no compromise, no collusion, and no negligence.
“The Nigerian people are counting on you, and this administration will provide the support you need to succeed,” Tinubu said, and assured of his administration’s support to state governments which have set up security outfits to safeguard their people from the terrorists bent on disrupting our national peace.
The president called on the National Assembly to review laws to allow states that require state police to establish them, and advised states government to rethink in establishing boarding schools in remote areas without adequate security.
“Mosques and churches should constantly seek police and other security protection when they gather for prayers, especially in vulnerable areas,” he stated.
The president said his administration created the Livestock Ministry to address the persistent clashes between herders and farmers, and called on all herder associations to take advantage of it.
He announced an end open grazing and told herders to surrender illegal weapons.
Tinubu said “ranching is now the path forward for sustainable livestock farming and national harmony.”
He warned those who want to test the resolve of government not mistake restraint for weakness, and boasted that his “administration has the courage and determination to keep the country safe and ensure our citizens live in peace.”
