ABUJA - Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday declared a nationwide security emergency and ordered the army and police to recruit thousands of additional personnel to tackle worsening armed violence across the country.

Tinubu said the police would hire 20,000 more officers, raising their strength to 50,000, and authorised the use of National Youth Service Corps camps as training facilities. He also directed the withdrawal of officers from VIP guard duties for redeployment to conflict zones after crash retraining.