The Federal Government of Nigeria has formally designated kidnappers and violent armed groups as terrorists, marking a significant escalation in its response to abductions, attacks on farmers, and violence against local communities.
The announcement was made on Monday by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, during the Federal Government’s end-of-year press briefing in Abuja.
The new classification represents a shift from treating mass kidnappings and rural attacks as conventional crimes to addressing them within a counterterrorism framework.
According to the minister, President Bola Tinubu has directed that any individual or group involved in kidnapping, attacking farmers, or terrorising communities will henceforth be treated as terrorists.
“From now on, any armed group or individual that kidnaps our children, attacks our farmers, and terrorises our communities will be classified and dealt with as a terrorist organisation. The era of ambiguous nomenclature is over,” Idris said.
“If you terrorise our people, whether as a group or an individual, you are a terrorist. There will be no hiding under any other name.”
He explained that the policy would strengthen intelligence sharing and improve operational coordination among security agencies, allowing for faster and more decisive responses to security threats.
Idris noted that enhanced inter-agency collaboration has already produced tangible results, citing the arrest of two internationally wanted criminals in 2025 through joint security operations.
As part of efforts to protect vulnerable rural communities, the minister said the government is deploying trained and properly equipped forest guards to secure forests and other remote areas often used as hideouts by criminal groups. The initiative combines surveillance, local intelligence gathering, and rapid-response operations.
He added that the forest guard programme is designed to disrupt criminal supply lines, dismantle camps, and provide protection and reassurance to farming communities affected by insecurity.
Highlighting recent successes, Idris said coordinated efforts between security agencies and intelligence services led to the capture of the ISWAP leader operating in Nigeria, as well as Abu Barra, another high-profile terrorist.
“These arrests were achieved through the coordinated efforts of our security and intelligence agencies,” he said. “Abu Barra, one of the most wanted terrorists on the African continent, had a significant bounty placed on him by international partners, including the United States.”
He added that both suspects, along with their associates, are currently facing trial and will be made to face justice in accordance with the law.
