Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday declared a state of national emergency over a string of brutal attacks and kidnappings, including mass abductions of schoolchildren.

“My fellow Nigerians, this is a national emergency, and we are responding by deploying more boots on the ground, especially in security-challenged areas,” Tinubu said , announcing plans to recruit another 20,000 police officers and deploy “forest guards” to lawless rural areas. Nigeria currently has about 30,000 police.

“Although I had previously approved the nationwide upgrade of police training facilities, the police authorities are, by this statement, authorized to use various National Youth Service Corps camps as training depots,” Tinubu said.

The president also made a somewhat awkward acknowledgement t

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