The Federal Government has launched a fresh push against terrorism and kidnapping, promising that every available resource will be used to rescue abducted schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo and Borno states.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, made this known at a national security briefing tagged #UniteAgainstTerror in Abuja, where he delivered President Bola Tinubu’s message to Nigerians.
“No child belongs in captivity,” Idris said, assuring families of the abducted victims that their safe return remains the government’s top priority.
He revealed that a specialised rescue team has already been activated and that intelligence gathering, aerial surveillance, community engagement and coordinated search-and-rescue operations are ongoing in both states.
President Tinubu has also approved the recruitment of 1,000 forest guards to strengthen security in vulnerable communities.
Idris highlighted recent security gains, saying that approximately 1,000 terrorists, including several top leaders, were eliminated in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
He also disclosed that a joint Nigeria-United States operation conducted in May disrupted terrorist logistics networks, eliminated key ISWAP commanders and rescued 92 civilians from captivity near Buratai.
On the legal front, the Federal High Court in Abuja recently sentenced four terrorists to death for their roles in the 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State. The government also said over 500 terrorism suspects are currently facing trial, with 386 convictions already recorded from 508 cases prosecuted.
“Together, united in purpose and unwavering in resolve, we will ensure that terrorism has no future in Nigeria,” the minister said.
However, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged the Tinubu administration to urgently overhaul Nigeria’s counter-terrorism framework.
Speaking through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the spread of terrorism across the country is proof that the current security system is failing to keep up with evolving threats.
“The terrorists are learning from every attack. They study their successes and failures. They refine their tactics. They identify vulnerabilities. They adapt and strike again. The question Nigerians must ask is simple: Why isn’t the government doing the same?” Atiku said.
He referenced the 2014 Chibok abduction as a national trauma from which lessons should have been learned, yet schoolchildren are still being kidnapped years later.
Among his proposals, Atiku called for the creation of a Terrorism Violence Peer Review Mechanism and specialised Counter-terrorism Fusion Centres across the country’s six geopolitical zones to improve real-time intelligence sharing.
He also criticised the government’s handling of security funding, arguing that despite trillions of naira budgeted for defence over the years, Nigerians are less safe today than they were a decade ago.
Atiku urged the Federal Government to invest heavily in education, youth employment and rural development, noting that terrorism thrives where poverty and state neglect have left citizens feeling abandoned.
Digital Operations Manager at The Students Forum Nigeria.
