The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday demanded an immediate overhaul of the country’s security manpower, calling on the Armed Forces to “immediately recruit at least 100,000 personnel” to confront the worsening insecurity sweeping across several states.
The upper chamber also resolved to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate “the funding, expenditure and outcome of the Safe School Programme,” a scheme that has consumed billions of naira with little visible impact as mass abductions of schoolchildren continue nationwide.
The resolutions followed a motion raised after the abduction of 25 students of Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi State on Monday, another attack that underscores Nigeria’s collapsing security architecture.
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In its official position, the Senate said it “strongly condemns the heinous act and sympathises with families of the victims,” while demanding immediate action from security agencies.
Lawmakers also lamented the growing casualties among military personnel, noting that the Senate “mourns the murder of Brigadier General Uba and other military personnel in Borno State.”
The fresh call for massive military recruitment comes amid rising concerns that Nigeria’s armed forces remain overstretched, underfunded, and unable to respond swiftly to simultaneous attacks across the North-West, North-East, and North-Central regions.
Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Waidi Shaibu, had also ordered troops of Operation FANSAN YANMA to work “day and night” until the 25 abducted schoolgirls taken from Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State are rescued.
Shaibu gave the directive during a visit to the affected community, in a video seen by SaharaReporters on Tuesday morning.
The Kebbi State Police Command confirmed that no fewer than 25 students were abducted during the early Monday morning attack on the school.
The bandits, described as heavily armed, stormed the school around 4:00 am and engaged policemen on duty in a fierce gun battle. Despite the officers’ resistance, the attackers reportedly scaled the perimeter fence and forcefully removed the girls from their hostel.
Police spokesperson, CSP Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi, said one staff member, identified as Hassan Makuku, was killed, while another, Ali Shehu, sustained a gunshot injury to his right hand.
Although several girls were taken, residents had told SaharaReporters that the abductors “had not gone far” and called on both federal and state authorities to act swiftly.
