Before President Bola Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, Nigeria had lost more than 47,000 lives to insecurity in its northern regions alone, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu revealed on Friday.
Speaking at the 50th anniversary dinner of the Nigerian Defence Academy’s 18th Regular Course in Abuja, Ribadu described the situation inherited by the current administration as a “sobering reality” that brought the country dangerously close to collapse.
“The security landscape we inherited as a government in 2023 was threatening the very cohesion, stability, and integrity of our Nigerian state,” he said.
He detailed five major security threats that had gripped the country: Boko Haram in the North-East, deadly banditry in the North-West and North-Central, separatist violence in the South-East, oil theft in the Niger Delta, and intercommunal violence in parts of the Middle Belt.
Boko Haram alone was responsible for over 35,000 deaths, the displacement of millions, and the razing of entire communities. Banditry, he added, had claimed over 12,000 lives and forced one million children out of school by 2021.
In 2022 alone, 1,192 Nigerians were killed and 3,348 kidnapped in a wave of violence that included the Kaduna train bombing, the attack on the Guards Brigade in Abuja, and the Owo church massacre.
He also blamed separatist violence for the destruction of 164 police stations in the South-East, alongside the killing of 128 officers and the orchestrated jailbreak of nearly 2,000 inmates.
Despite the chaos, Ribadu said the Tinubu administration had achieved major victories: over 11,000 hostages rescued in the North-West, more than 13,000 terrorists neutralised in the North-East, and a surge in oil production in the Niger Delta following the destruction of nearly 2,000 illegal refineries.
He noted that IPOB’s sit-at-home orders had largely failed and announced that oil production would soon resume in Ogoniland for the first time in over three decades.
The NSA also highlighted progress in curbing cybercrime and terrorist financing, including the freezing of millions of dollars traced to extremist groups through crypto and bank channels.
Ribadu urged retired military officers to play a more active role in shaping Nigeria’s national security strategies through proposed Veterans’ Advisory Councils.
“You understand the terrain, the history, and the threats,” he said. “Now is the time to bring that expertise back into the fight for Nigeria’s future.”
