Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has directed the immediate recruitment of 30 000 additional police officers as the country responds to a surge in mass abductions.

His office also confirmed that officers currently assigned to protect VIPs will be reassigned to bolster security operations nationwide.

The announcement comes as 50 of the 315 students abducted from a Catholic school in central Nigeria managed to escape from their captors. Tinibu welcomed the development and said he is receiving regular updates on the wider security situation.

A search and rescue operation is still under way for the remaining students and the 12 teachers who were seized by armed men on Friday. The recent wave of school kidnappings has prompted several state governments to shut schools temporarily as a precaution.

–ChannelAfrica–