ANOTHER wave of terror swept through several communities in Niger State last weekend, with terrorists reportedly abducting scores of people from mosques and surrounding villages in the Borgu Local Government Area.The scale and frequency of such attacks should horrify a country. Mass abduction must never become a routine feature of Nigerian life. Yet, increasingly, it is beginning to look that way.Governments at all levels, security agencies, communities and other stakeholders must act with greater urgency and determination to reverse this dangerous trend before it becomes even more deeply entrenched.According to the police spokesperson, Wasiu Abiodun, the assailants attacked a mosque in Kpenya village after raiding several communities in the remote Borgu area.Premium Times reported that the attacks occurred simultaneously during Juma’at prayers in Dekara, Kpenya, Sabon-Gida and Gidan-Zana.The Associated Press quoted Abiodun as saying that no lives were lost and that military personnel had been deployed to the area.Residents, however, gave a far more disturbing account, saying scores of people had been abducted, with estimates ranging from 60 to 100.A district official cited by Reuters, meanwhile, claimed that 30 people had been killed and buried on Sunday.The uncertainty surrounding the casualty and abduction figures is itself disturbing. Reuters reported that an armed group circulated a video showing what residents described as about 600 women, children and elderly people held in a forested location surrounded by armed men.The video, reportedly shared on Facebook and WhatsApp, showed large groups of captives seated in the forest, with children crying in the background. A gunman speaking in Hausa addressed relatives of the captives and urged them to identify their loved ones.Whatever the final figures may be, the episode exposes once again the frightening vulnerability of communities in parts of northern Nigeria.Sadly, this is no longer an isolated phenomenon. Armed groups have turned kidnapping and ransom-taking into a lucrative criminal enterprise, while terrorists and bandits continue to operate across vast stretches of the country. Some groups also fight over territory and other criminal interests.A few days after the Niger State attacks, President Bola Tinubu ordered “an immediate and coordinated security operation” to rescue the victims and directed the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to work together to secure their release.Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. The scale and frequency of such attacks should horrify a country. Mass abduction must never become a routine feature of Nigerian life. Yet, increasingly, it is beginning to look that way.Governments at all levels, security agencies, communities and other stakeholders must act with greater urgency and determination to reverse this dangerous trend before it becomes even more deeply entrenched.According to the police spokesperson, Wasiu Abiodun, the assailants attacked a mosque in Kpenya village after raiding several communities in the remote Borgu area.Premium Times reported that the attacks occurred simultaneously during Juma’at prayers in Dekara, Kpenya, Sabon-Gida and Gidan-Zana.The Associated Press quoted Abiodun as saying that no lives were lost and that military personnel had been deployed to the area.Residents, however, gave a far more disturbing account, saying scores of people had been abducted, with estimates ranging from 60 to 100.A district official cited by Reuters, meanwhile, claimed that 30 people had been killed and buried on Sunday.The uncertainty surrounding the casualty and abduction figures is itself disturbing. Reuters reported that an armed group circulated a video showing what residents described as about 600 women, children and elderly people held in a forested location surrounded by armed men.The video, reportedly shared on Facebook and WhatsApp, showed large groups of captives seated in the forest, with children crying in the background. A gunman speaking in Hausa addressed relatives of the captives and urged them to identify their loved ones.Whatever the final figures may be, the episode exposes once again the frightening vulnerability of communities in parts of northern Nigeria.Sadly, this is no longer an isolated phenomenon. Armed groups have turned kidnapping and ransom-taking into a lucrative criminal enterprise, while terrorists and bandits continue to operate across vast stretches of the country. Some groups also fight over territory and other criminal interests.A few days after the Niger State attacks, President Bola Tinubu ordered “an immediate and coordinated security operation” to rescue the victims and directed the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to work together to secure their release.Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Governments at all levels, security agencies, communities and other stakeholders must act with greater urgency and determination to reverse this dangerous trend before it becomes even more deeply entrenched.According to the police spokesperson, Wasiu Abiodun, the assailants attacked a mosque in Kpenya village after raiding several communities in the remote Borgu area.Premium Times reported that the attacks occurred simultaneously during Juma’at prayers in Dekara, Kpenya, Sabon-Gida and Gidan-Zana.The Associated Press quoted Abiodun as saying that no lives were lost and that military personnel had been deployed to the area.Residents, however, gave a far more disturbing account, saying scores of people had been abducted, with estimates ranging from 60 to 100.A district official cited by Reuters, meanwhile, claimed that 30 people had been killed and buried on Sunday.The uncertainty surrounding the casualty and abduction figures is itself disturbing. Reuters reported that an armed group circulated a video showing what residents described as about 600 women, children and elderly people held in a forested location surrounded by armed men.The video, reportedly shared on Facebook and WhatsApp, showed large groups of captives seated in the forest, with children crying in the background. A gunman speaking in Hausa addressed relatives of the captives and urged them to identify their loved ones.Whatever the final figures may be, the episode exposes once again the frightening vulnerability of communities in parts of northern Nigeria.Sadly, this is no longer an isolated phenomenon. Armed groups have turned kidnapping and ransom-taking into a lucrative criminal enterprise, while terrorists and bandits continue to operate across vast stretches of the country. Some groups also fight over territory and other criminal interests.A few days after the Niger State attacks, President Bola Tinubu ordered “an immediate and coordinated security operation” to rescue the victims and directed the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to work together to secure their release.Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. According to the police spokesperson, Wasiu Abiodun, the assailants attacked a mosque in Kpenya village after raiding several communities in the remote Borgu area.Premium Times reported that the attacks occurred simultaneously during Juma’at prayers in Dekara, Kpenya, Sabon-Gida and Gidan-Zana.The Associated Press quoted Abiodun as saying that no lives were lost and that military personnel had been deployed to the area.Residents, however, gave a far more disturbing account, saying scores of people had been abducted, with estimates ranging from 60 to 100.A district official cited by Reuters, meanwhile, claimed that 30 people had been killed and buried on Sunday.The uncertainty surrounding the casualty and abduction figures is itself disturbing. Reuters reported that an armed group circulated a video showing what residents described as about 600 women, children and elderly people held in a forested location surrounded by armed men.The video, reportedly shared on Facebook and WhatsApp, showed large groups of captives seated in the forest, with children crying in the background. A gunman speaking in Hausa addressed relatives of the captives and urged them to identify their loved ones.Whatever the final figures may be, the episode exposes once again the frightening vulnerability of communities in parts of northern Nigeria.Sadly, this is no longer an isolated phenomenon. Armed groups have turned kidnapping and ransom-taking into a lucrative criminal enterprise, while terrorists and bandits continue to operate across vast stretches of the country. Some groups also fight over territory and other criminal interests.A few days after the Niger State attacks, President Bola Tinubu ordered “an immediate and coordinated security operation” to rescue the victims and directed the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to work together to secure their release.Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Premium Times reported that the attacks occurred simultaneously during Juma’at prayers in Dekara, Kpenya, Sabon-Gida and Gidan-Zana.The Associated Press quoted Abiodun as saying that no lives were lost and that military personnel had been deployed to the area.Residents, however, gave a far more disturbing account, saying scores of people had been abducted, with estimates ranging from 60 to 100.A district official cited by Reuters, meanwhile, claimed that 30 people had been killed and buried on Sunday.The uncertainty surrounding the casualty and abduction figures is itself disturbing. Reuters reported that an armed group circulated a video showing what residents described as about 600 women, children and elderly people held in a forested location surrounded by armed men.The video, reportedly shared on Facebook and WhatsApp, showed large groups of captives seated in the forest, with children crying in the background. A gunman speaking in Hausa addressed relatives of the captives and urged them to identify their loved ones.Whatever the final figures may be, the episode exposes once again the frightening vulnerability of communities in parts of northern Nigeria.Sadly, this is no longer an isolated phenomenon. Armed groups have turned kidnapping and ransom-taking into a lucrative criminal enterprise, while terrorists and bandits continue to operate across vast stretches of the country. Some groups also fight over territory and other criminal interests.A few days after the Niger State attacks, President Bola Tinubu ordered “an immediate and coordinated security operation” to rescue the victims and directed the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to work together to secure their release.Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. The Associated Press quoted Abiodun as saying that no lives were lost and that military personnel had been deployed to the area.Residents, however, gave a far more disturbing account, saying scores of people had been abducted, with estimates ranging from 60 to 100.A district official cited by Reuters, meanwhile, claimed that 30 people had been killed and buried on Sunday.The uncertainty surrounding the casualty and abduction figures is itself disturbing. Reuters reported that an armed group circulated a video showing what residents described as about 600 women, children and elderly people held in a forested location surrounded by armed men.The video, reportedly shared on Facebook and WhatsApp, showed large groups of captives seated in the forest, with children crying in the background. A gunman speaking in Hausa addressed relatives of the captives and urged them to identify their loved ones.Whatever the final figures may be, the episode exposes once again the frightening vulnerability of communities in parts of northern Nigeria.Sadly, this is no longer an isolated phenomenon. Armed groups have turned kidnapping and ransom-taking into a lucrative criminal enterprise, while terrorists and bandits continue to operate across vast stretches of the country. Some groups also fight over territory and other criminal interests.A few days after the Niger State attacks, President Bola Tinubu ordered “an immediate and coordinated security operation” to rescue the victims and directed the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to work together to secure their release.Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Residents, however, gave a far more disturbing account, saying scores of people had been abducted, with estimates ranging from 60 to 100.A district official cited by Reuters, meanwhile, claimed that 30 people had been killed and buried on Sunday.The uncertainty surrounding the casualty and abduction figures is itself disturbing. Reuters reported that an armed group circulated a video showing what residents described as about 600 women, children and elderly people held in a forested location surrounded by armed men.The video, reportedly shared on Facebook and WhatsApp, showed large groups of captives seated in the forest, with children crying in the background. A gunman speaking in Hausa addressed relatives of the captives and urged them to identify their loved ones.Whatever the final figures may be, the episode exposes once again the frightening vulnerability of communities in parts of northern Nigeria.Sadly, this is no longer an isolated phenomenon. Armed groups have turned kidnapping and ransom-taking into a lucrative criminal enterprise, while terrorists and bandits continue to operate across vast stretches of the country. Some groups also fight over territory and other criminal interests.A few days after the Niger State attacks, President Bola Tinubu ordered “an immediate and coordinated security operation” to rescue the victims and directed the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to work together to secure their release.Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. A district official cited by Reuters, meanwhile, claimed that 30 people had been killed and buried on Sunday.The uncertainty surrounding the casualty and abduction figures is itself disturbing. Reuters reported that an armed group circulated a video showing what residents described as about 600 women, children and elderly people held in a forested location surrounded by armed men.The video, reportedly shared on Facebook and WhatsApp, showed large groups of captives seated in the forest, with children crying in the background. A gunman speaking in Hausa addressed relatives of the captives and urged them to identify their loved ones.Whatever the final figures may be, the episode exposes once again the frightening vulnerability of communities in parts of northern Nigeria.Sadly, this is no longer an isolated phenomenon. Armed groups have turned kidnapping and ransom-taking into a lucrative criminal enterprise, while terrorists and bandits continue to operate across vast stretches of the country. Some groups also fight over territory and other criminal interests.A few days after the Niger State attacks, President Bola Tinubu ordered “an immediate and coordinated security operation” to rescue the victims and directed the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to work together to secure their release.Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. The uncertainty surrounding the casualty and abduction figures is itself disturbing. Reuters reported that an armed group circulated a video showing what residents described as about 600 women, children and elderly people held in a forested location surrounded by armed men.The video, reportedly shared on Facebook and WhatsApp, showed large groups of captives seated in the forest, with children crying in the background. A gunman speaking in Hausa addressed relatives of the captives and urged them to identify their loved ones.Whatever the final figures may be, the episode exposes once again the frightening vulnerability of communities in parts of northern Nigeria.Sadly, this is no longer an isolated phenomenon. Armed groups have turned kidnapping and ransom-taking into a lucrative criminal enterprise, while terrorists and bandits continue to operate across vast stretches of the country. Some groups also fight over territory and other criminal interests.A few days after the Niger State attacks, President Bola Tinubu ordered “an immediate and coordinated security operation” to rescue the victims and directed the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to work together to secure their release.Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. The video, reportedly shared on Facebook and WhatsApp, showed large groups of captives seated in the forest, with children crying in the background. A gunman speaking in Hausa addressed relatives of the captives and urged them to identify their loved ones.Whatever the final figures may be, the episode exposes once again the frightening vulnerability of communities in parts of northern Nigeria.Sadly, this is no longer an isolated phenomenon. Armed groups have turned kidnapping and ransom-taking into a lucrative criminal enterprise, while terrorists and bandits continue to operate across vast stretches of the country. Some groups also fight over territory and other criminal interests.A few days after the Niger State attacks, President Bola Tinubu ordered “an immediate and coordinated security operation” to rescue the victims and directed the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to work together to secure their release.Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Whatever the final figures may be, the episode exposes once again the frightening vulnerability of communities in parts of northern Nigeria.Sadly, this is no longer an isolated phenomenon. Armed groups have turned kidnapping and ransom-taking into a lucrative criminal enterprise, while terrorists and bandits continue to operate across vast stretches of the country. Some groups also fight over territory and other criminal interests.A few days after the Niger State attacks, President Bola Tinubu ordered “an immediate and coordinated security operation” to rescue the victims and directed the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to work together to secure their release.Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Sadly, this is no longer an isolated phenomenon. Armed groups have turned kidnapping and ransom-taking into a lucrative criminal enterprise, while terrorists and bandits continue to operate across vast stretches of the country. Some groups also fight over territory and other criminal interests.A few days after the Niger State attacks, President Bola Tinubu ordered “an immediate and coordinated security operation” to rescue the victims and directed the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to work together to secure their release.Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. A few days after the Niger State attacks, President Bola Tinubu ordered “an immediate and coordinated security operation” to rescue the victims and directed the Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to work together to secure their release.Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Such presidential orders are commonplace, but Nigerians have heard this script too many times.An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. An attack occurs. Government condemns it. Sympathy is expressed. Security agencies are ordered to rescue the victims. Some captives are eventually freed. Then another community is attacked, and the cycle begins again.This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. This cannot continue.Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Rescuing abducted citizens is important, but rescue operations after the fact cannot substitute for effective prevention. A government cannot keep congratulating itself for bringing home citizens it failed to protect in the first place.Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Recurring mass abductions expose serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture. They demonstrate that criminal and terrorist networks retain the capacity to gather large numbers of people, invade communities and disappear into difficult terrain with alarming ease.Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Terrorism and banditry constitute an existential threat to the Nigerian state. Confronting them requires political will, sustained intelligence operations and a security strategy that attacks the problem at its roots rather than repeatedly responding to its consequences.Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Earlier this month, at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued. They included 163 people abducted from Woro community in the Kaiama area of Kwara State in February and 145 others kidnapped mainly in Niger State.Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Tinubu described the operation as the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by the country’s security forces in a single day.The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. The achievement deserves recognition. But it should not obscure the more uncomfortable question: why were hundreds of Nigerians allowed to be taken captive in the first place?The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. The sheer scale of these incidents, often carried out with little apparent resistance, makes a mockery of a security architecture that should be able to protect vulnerable communities.Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Nigeria has seen this pattern for more than a decade.In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State. More than 90 are still reportedly missing.According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. According to an Associated Press tally, at least 1,799 students have been seized in a dozen of the largest school abductions since Chibok. Most were eventually released, many reportedly after ransom payments, while others escaped.Related NewsDiphtheria outbreak: Katsina hospital runs out of bed spaceADC designates corruption as banditryIG in Niger, vows to rescue abducted worshippersIn February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. In February 2018, a Boko Haram faction abducted 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. Nearly all were later released, but five died. Leah Sharibu, who reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith, remains in captivity.In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. In December 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State. They were released six days later after negotiations.Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Two months later, terrorists abducted 27 students, three staff members and others from the Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. They were released more than a week later.That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. That same month, more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. They were later released, reportedly following the payment of ransom.In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. In March 2021, gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State. Weeks later, they were released.The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. The following month, armed men attacked Greenfield University in Kaduna State and abducted at least 20 students. Most were eventually released, but five were killed.In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. In July 2021, more than 100 students were abducted from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State and released over several months.The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. The attacks have continued. In March 2024, gunmen riding motorcycles abducted 287 pupils from Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State. That same month, terrorists invaded a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto State, and abducted 15 children as they slept.Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Last year, gunmen attacked a school in Kebbi State, abducting 25 students and killing at least one staff member. In the same month, armed gangs stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and abducted more than 300 students and staff.These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. These incidents tell a grim story. Nigeria’s mass-abduction crisis is not a temporary security disturbance. It has evolved into a national emergency.The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. The response, therefore, must match the threat.The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. The government must focus relentlessly on dismantling the financial infrastructure of terrorism and banditry. Ransom payments, illegal mining, extortion, arms trafficking and other criminal enterprises provide the oxygen that keeps these groups alive. Following the money should be as important as pursuing the gunmen.The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. The country’s waterways also require greater security. Marine policing and surveillance should be strengthened to complement the Nigerian Navy’s operations and prevent criminals from exploiting waterways as routes for movement, logistics and escape.Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Kainji National Park and Oyo National Park have also been identified as areas exploited by armed groups. Such vast forest reserves and difficult terrain cannot be allowed to become permanent sanctuaries for terrorists and bandits.Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Technology must become central to the counter-terrorism strategy. Drones should be deployed extensively for surveillance, intelligence gathering and, where legally and operationally justified, offensive operations. Intelligence networks must be expanded and modernised, while communities should be better integrated into early-warning systems.Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Telecommunications technology must also be deployed intelligently. Security agencies need the capacity to identify, monitor and disrupt communications used to coordinate attacks without imposing indiscriminate restrictions on law-abiding citizens.More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. More broadly, Nigeria must invest heavily in both military hardware and the software of modern warfare: intelligence, surveillance, data analysis, secure communications, cyber capabilities and indigenous defence technology.A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. A country confronting sophisticated criminal networks cannot afford to fight a 21st-century security war with outdated tools and fragmented intelligence.Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Resources allocated to counter-terrorism must also reflect the scale of the danger. Intelligence gathering requires sustained funding, professionalisation and coordination among security agencies. Border controls must be strengthened, arms trafficking disrupted and local communities empowered to provide reliable early warnings against impending attacks.There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. There should be consequences for those who recruit, finance, arm, shelter and facilitate terrorist groups. The fight cannot be won by chasing gunmen alone while the financiers and enablers operate with impunity.Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Above all, the government must change the narrative from rescue to prevention.Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Citizens should not have to wait for soldiers to rescue them from forests after terrorists have invaded their homes, schools and places of worship. Communities should not have to pray that their attackers will negotiate before killing their loved ones.The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. The ultimate measure of a successful security operation is not the number of captives rescued after an attack. It is the number of attacks prevented, criminal networks dismantled, and communities made safe.Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Nigeria cannot afford to normalise mass abductions. Every kidnapping on this scale is not merely a crime against its immediate victims; it is a direct assault on the authority of the state.The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. The government must therefore move beyond condemnation and promises of rescue. It must dismantle the networks, finances, communication channels and safe havens that sustain these atrocities.Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity. Failure to do that will leave millions of Nigerians perpetually vulnerable and convince their tormentors that the Nigerian state can be challenged with impunity.