President Bola Tinubu said recent security successes, including the rescue of pupils and teachers abducted in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, demonstrated the importance of improved coordination among security agencies.
President Bola Tinubu has set up an 11-man committee with a 90-day mandate to produce a five-year strategic defence cooperation plan aimed at overhauling Nigeria’s security architecture and sharpening the country’s response to emerging threats.
Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris disclosed the directive while briefing State House correspondents at the end of a Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, explaining that the initiative will centre on national threat assessments and a framework for military cooperation. Idris said the move followed recent military successes against bandits and terrorists.
The committee brings together the country’s top security and intelligence leadership.
According to the presidential statement, its members are National Security Adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; Minister of Defence General Christopher Musa; Minister of State for Defence Alhaji Bello Muhammad Matawalle; Chief of Defence Staff General Olufemi Oluyede; Chief of Army Staff Lt.
General Waidi Shaibu; Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke; Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Idi Abbas; Director-General of the Department of State Services Tosin Ajayi; and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency Ambassador Muhammed Muhammed.
Adeyinka Famadewa will coordinate and provide secretariat support for the committee.
The directive builds directly on the government’s handling of the Oriire school abduction, which Tinubu has repeatedly cited as a turning point for the country’s security posture. Gunmen abducted 44 pupils and teachers in simultaneous raids on three schools in Esiele and Yawota communities on May 15, 2026; the captives were freed after 56 days, though the ordeal claimed the lives of two teachers, one of them killed while in captivity.
Tinubu has said security forces refused ransom demands and rejected the kidnappers’ request for the release of detained gang members, telling traditional rulers from Oyo State afterward, “We refused to negotiate with criminals… We will not negotiate with murderers and terrorists.”
He also pointed to a regional dimension behind the escalating threat, noting that worsening insecurity in neighbouring Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic had compounded Nigeria’s own security challenges.
Tinubu has framed the episode as a catalyst for structural change rather than an isolated success.
He said the crisis exposed gaps in the military’s response time and directly informed the government’s decision to expand the Nigerian Army from eight to 12 divisions, explaining that the change was designed “to shorten the response time, to give that response time the teeth that is needed for us to defeat terrorism and banditry.”
In the immediate aftermath of the abduction, he had also approved the recruitment of 1,000 forest guards for Oyo State and the deployment of a specialised tactical rescue unit, while forwarding a community request for a permanent military base in the area for his consideration.
Wednesday’s five-year defence plan marks the most structured, long-range response yet in a broader pattern of piecemeal security escalation over the past year.
Amid a nationwide surge in mass abductions, Tinubu had already ordered 24-hour aerial surveillance over forests in Kwara, Kebbi and Niger states, declared a nationwide security emergency, ordered the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers, redeployed personnel from VIP protection duties to conflict zones, and authorised the use of NYSC camps for security training.
Civil society groups have welcomed the government’s recent coordination gains while pushing for sustained investment; the Coalition of Civil Rights Groups on Security Sector Reforms commended the Oriire rescue as reflecting improved synergy between the armed forces and police, while also extending condolences to security personnel who lost their lives during the operation and urging continued investment in modern security technology and inter-agency collaboration.
The 90-day committee is now expected to translate these ad hoc responses into a formal, multi-year framework for defence cooperation and threat assessment — a shift from crisis-driven deployments toward a longer-term national security strategy.
