Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, has given the Bola Tinubu administration a security performance rating of between 65 and 70 percent, asserting that terrorism has “drastically reduced” across Nigeria even as the country continues to grapple with high-profile school abductions and rural banditry. During an interview on Arise Television on Friday, May 29, 2026, Musa insisted that while incidents of terrorism and kidnapping still occur, the security situation has improved considerably compared to previous years. “Yes, I’ll give ourselves 65 to 70 percent score. No nation is totally free from crime and criminality, but the level of terrorism across the country has actually drastically reduced,” he said.
The defence minister’s assessment comes exactly two weeks after a coordinated terrorist attack on three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, where armed men on motorcycles abducted dozens of pupils and teachers, killed an assistant headmaster, and later beheaded a mathematics teacher. Despite the persistent threat of kidnappings, Musa argued that absolute domestic tranquility is unrealistic for any modern state. He shifted the analytical focus away from purely military deficits, pointing instead to what he described as deep-seated societal decay. “Now we have acts of terrorism, and terrorism, like I said, it’s a social vice, a failure of family values,” Musa said. “We have seen fathers kidnapping children, children kidnapping each other, and brothers kidnapping sisters.”
The minister lamented what he described as a toxic cultural shift where perpetrators of violent crimes are driven by an unbridled desire to accumulate quick wealth without engaging in legitimate hard work. He insisted that many individuals involved in kidnapping and other crimes were seeking shortcuts to money rather than embracing honest labor. “People need to understand that to make money, work very hard, don’t look for shortcuts,” he said. Musa further raised concerns about the potential weaponization of insecurity by desperate political actors, suggesting that some criminal activities could be acts of sabotage aimed at portraying the government as weak or making the country appear ungovernable. “You can’t rule out politics,” he stated, pointing out that kidnappers sometimes demand ransoms far beyond what victims can pay, suggesting ulterior motives.
Despite the challenges, Musa maintained that the armed forces and other security agencies are making sustained efforts to tackle insecurity across the country, and he expressed appreciation for the support received from Nigerians. The minister’s remarks have drawn sharp reactions from civil society groups and opposition figures, who argue that the continued abduction of schoolchildren and rural communities contradicts the narrative of drastic improvement. The Defence Headquarters had earlier described the Oyo school attack as an “isolated criminal incident” rather than evidence of an entrenched terrorist network in the South-West, a distinction that critics have dismissed as semantic. As the country approaches the 2027 general elections, the debate over the true state of Nigeria’s security is likely to intensify, with the government’s self-assessment at the center of the political discourse.
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