Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu said his country would hire tens of thousands of police officers in order to quell a surge in violence.
Tinubu’s announcement comes just days after gunmen abducted hundreds of children from a Catholic school in northern Nigeria. Abuja has faced pressure from US President Donald Trump to do more to protect its Christian population, with Washington recently floating tariff threats should Nigeria fail to stem the unrest.
Analysts worry that Washington’s threats may actually be fueling an uptick in kidnappings as criminal groups look to extort ransom from Nigerian authorities eager to make problems disappear quickly.
Meanwhile, millions displaced from violence-wracked regions of the country face unprecedented levels of hunger, the World Food Programme warned.