In a urgent bid to shore up the nation’s defenses against a relentless wave of violence, the Nigerian Senate on Tuesday implored President Bola Tinubu to greenlight the recruitment of 100,000 fresh personnel into the armed forces. The resolution, adopted unanimously during a heated plenary session, comes on the heels of a deadly attack on a secondary school in northwestern Kebbi State that claimed one life and saw 25 students kidnapped by gunmen.
The call for massive enlistment was spearheaded by Senator Adams Oshiomhole (Edo North, All Progressives Congress), who painted a stark picture of Nigeria’s security apparatus stretched thin by insurgency, banditry, and targeted assaults on educational institutions. “I urge the President and the armed forces to recruit an additional 100,000 military personnel so we can have enough men and women in our troops,” Oshiomhole declared from the floor of the Red Chamber. “It is also another way to create employment for our youthful population.”
The senator’s motion was prompted by Monday’s brazen raid on Government Girls’ Secondary School in Maga, a remote community in Kebbi State, where assailants killed Vice Principal Malam Abubakar, wounded a security guard, and carted off two dozen female students into the dense forests bordering the region. This incident is the latest in a grim litany of school-based atrocities that have plagued Nigeria for over a decade, ever since the country endorsed the global Safe Schools Declaration in 2015—a pact aimed at shielding educational sites from armed conflict. Despite billions of naira allocated to the Safe Schools Initiative, critics argue the funds have been mismanaged, leaving vulnerabilities exposed.
Oshiomhole didn’t stop at recruitment. He lambasted what he called the “monetization” of insecurity, accusing vested interests of turning national safety into a lucrative enterprise. “People have turned our security into a business. We should not monetise the death of our people by those living,” he thundered. “What happened to the money earmarked for the Safe School Programme?” In response, the Senate mandated an immediate investigation by the Federal Government and its relevant committees into the program’s expenditures, demanding transparency on how resources meant to fortify schools have seemingly evaporated amid repeated breaches.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom North-West, APC) threw his weight behind the proposals, underscoring the human cost of inaction. “We urge the Federal Government and the Senate committee to probe the spending,” Akpabio stated. “Unfortunately, these criminals are going after soft targets.” He extended condolences to the victims’ families, invoking a broader reflection on crime’s universality: “But crime is crime. It doesn’t matter under which administration it takes place.
The session, which later dissolved into a closed-door executive briefing on classified security matters, highlighted a rare bipartisan consensus in Nigeria’s fractious legislature. Lawmakers from across the aisle seconded Oshiomhole’s prayers, including calls for the military to leverage advanced technologies—like tracking devices and surveillance drones—to hunt down perpetrators more effectively.
Nigeria’s military, ranked 35th globally and third on the continent with approximately 135,000 active-duty members, has long grappled with manpower shortages amid sprawling threats from Boko Haram insurgents in the northeast, bandit syndicates in the northwest, and separatist unrest in the southeast. Proponents of the recruitment drive argue it would not only plug operational gaps but also channel the energies of the country’s burgeoning youth demographic—over 70% of Nigeria’s 220 million people are under 30—into productive service, potentially curbing unemployment-fueled unrest.
Yet, the proposal arrives at a delicate fiscal juncture. With Nigeria’s defense budget already strained under President Tinubu’s economic reforms, including subsidy removals and currency floats, funding such an expansion could ignite debates over priorities. Analysts warn that without parallel investments in training, equipment, and welfare, swelling the ranks risks diluting effectiveness rather than enhancing it.
As search and rescue operations continue in Kebbi’s unforgiving terrain for the abducted girls, the Senate’s clarion call echoes a deeper national reckoning: In a nation where schools have become battlegrounds, bolstering the barracks may be the first step toward reclaiming the classroom. The President’s office has yet to respond formally, but with insecurity’s shadow lengthening, all eyes are on whether this legislative thunder will translate into executive lightning.
