Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, on Tuesday presented the 2026 Draft Budget Estimates totaling ₦607,346,637,000 (Six Hundred and Seven Billion, Three Hundred and Forty-Six Million, Six Hundred and Thirty-Seven Thousand Naira) to the Anambra State House of Assembly for consideration and passage.

Tagged “Budget for Consolidation and Continuity,” the 2026 fiscal plan represents a 41.5% increase over the revised 2025 budget of ₦429.4 billion.

Speaking during the presentation at the State Assembly Complex in Awka, Governor Soludo described the proposal as a realistic, growth-oriented and people-focused budget designed to consolidate the gains of his administration while laying a solid foundation for the sustainable transformation of Anambra State into a livable and prosperous smart megacity.

Key highlights of the 2026 budget include:- Recurrent Expenditure: ₦103.6 billion (17.1%)- Capital Expenditure: ₦503.7 billion (82.9%)- Education: ₦79.3 billion (highest sectoral allocation)- Infrastructure (roads, erosion control, water): over ₦200 billion combined- Health, youth entrepreneurship, security and social investment programs also received significant boosts.

Governor Soludo emphasized that the budget prioritizes completion of ongoing legacy projects, aggressive infrastructure development, human capital development, and economic transformation in line with the administration’s vision of making Anambra the preferred destination to live, invest, learn, work and relax.

The Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Somtochukwu Udeze, received the draft estimates on behalf of the lawmakers and assured expeditious consideration and passage, pledging the House’s continued partnership with the executive arm in delivering democratic dividends to ndị Anambra.

Lawmakers, traditional rulers, government officials, and stakeholders witnessed the historic presentation.

Read the full speech below:

Mr. Speaker and Honorable Members, it gives me immense pleasure to appear before this Honorable House once again to perform one of our sacred constitutional responsibilities: the presentation of the draft 2026 Budget Proposals for your kind consideration.

Let me begin by expressing my profound gratitude to Ndi Anambra for the renewed mandate given to my Deputy Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim and I, in the just-concluded Governorship Election. With an unprecedented voter turn-out and historic 73% vote for us, you spoke very loudly and emphatically that the Solution must continue.

We do not take this historic vote of confidence for granted. We also appreciate the pivotal role played by a majority of members of this House in our victory. Your mandate has reinvigorated and energized us to work even harder to continue to make you proud.

As we said all through the campaign and as the Americans would say: you ain’t seen nothing yet. Let us make history together in the coming four years! To our co-contestants as well as the minority that did not vote for us, I once again extend our hands of fellowship.

Democracy won, Anambra won, and we are here to serve you. Ours is one state, one people, with one agenda. Let us unite and build Anambra together!

Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members, back to the business of the day. Let me place on record that this Honorable Assembly has been a strong, dependable, and progressive partner in our drive to lay the foundations for a livable and prosperous smart mega city.

History will indeed be kind to this 8th Assembly for your commitment, hard work, and exceptional productivity. I particularly recall that on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, I signed into law 11 landmark bills passed by this Assembly, plus other laws before the end of 2024.

In 2025, the Assembly has passed 11 bills and some are still in the pipeline for the year. Ndi Anambra are happy with the leadership and most members of this Assembly for being great partners in progress.

Recall, Mr. Speaker, Hon members that this administration is the first government since we crafted the Anambra Vision 2070—a 50 Year Development Plan for the State, and thus with the historic duty to lay the foundations for the envisioned livable and prosperous smart mega city (the African Dubai-Taiwan- Silicon Valley – ADTS).

This first term of our administration will end on March 17, 2026. Over the past three years and eight months, we have been very intentional and focused on delivering across the five pillars of our Manifesto (Soludo Solution: A Peoples Manifesto for a Greater Anambra) as the short-term agenda en route towards 2070, namely: Security, Law and Order; Infrastructure and Economic Transformation; Human Capital and Social Agenda; Governance and New Value System; and Environmental Sustainability.

Suffice it to report that we have been firing on all cylinders over the past three years and the results are evident even to the blind. Many now say that Anambra is happily on the rise.

In our End of Term Report in March 2026, we will present a comprehensive Report Card. Here we allude to some nuggets. We have strengthened our security architecture, and I am pleased to report substantial progress.

Normalcy has returned to Anambra State, particularly in Ihiala LGA, and it is safe to say that Anambra is now one of the safest, if not the safest, state in Nigeria.

We commend our brave and professional security agencies. We have zero tolerance for criminality, touting, cultism, drug offences as well as for the dangerous native doctors who aid and promote criminal idolatry and criminality. We must unite to root out all evil among us and promote a new moral and ethical code.

In our drive to build a fit-for-purpose modern infrastructure for Anambra, we have sustained an unprecedented pace of road construction across the State.

Today, over 900 kilometres of roads are under construction, with some 600 kilometres already asphalted within just 44 months and with a level of quality that Anambra has not witnessed before (average completion rate of 14 km of new road per month) plus over 700 km of repaired old roads under the zero pothole programme, and 8 bridges.

The Ekwulobia Flyover and Bus Terminal/shopping mall have been fully completed. Our transformative policy of dualizing all Trunk A roads (federal and state) has propelled us racing to complete the dualization of over 100km of roads—creating a strategic beltway around the state and linking our major urban cities.

You all now enjoy the completed Aroma Link Bridge connecting the two major sections of Awka and significantly ease intra-city movement. Importantly, we have broken the 34-year-old jinx of not having a befitting Government House and Governor’s Lodge in Awka.

The new complex named the “Light House” has been completed, and we have since moved in. This is a historic milestone and a testament of true leadership. For the first time in decades, urban and semi-urban water schemes are back and functional, restoring access to clean, reliable water for our people across communities. Our comprehensive Rail Transport Masterplan is ready.

Our vision to transform Anambra into a destination of choice rather than a departure lounge is fully on course. A key element of livability—the availability of facilities for leisure and entertainment—is now in place at Awka.

The Solution Fun City, now the largest leisure and entertainment complex in West Africa, has become a reality. Since its commissioning alongside the Light House by the President, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, on 8th May 2025, it has commenced operations by end of July and in three and half months of operations, it has attracted over 100,000 visitors from far and wide.

Considerable progress has also been made on other tourism and hospitality infrastructures. The piling work for the 10-storey 5 Star Hotel in Awka has been completed and construction will soon commence.

The development of the Awka City Park as well as the Agulu Lake Beach Resort is ongoing. One of the largest shopping malls in Africa will soon be commissioned here in Awka. We are intentional about developing Awka as a befitting state capital.

Our human capital agenda is powered by a big bang revolution designed to build the next generation of citizens with great stakes in our future and who are productive at home and exportable abroad.

It is a revolutionary policy that provides ladders of opportunity to every child—from the womb to productive adulthood and to respectable retirement. Space would not permit further elaboration here.

In the education sector, the revolution is on, with historic results. With the employment of 8,115 within a year and a half, we have largely ended the era of schools without teachers. We have sustained our free education policy in all public schools from kindergarten to senior secondary school while strengthening the capacity of the teachers as well as the administrative structures.

Enrolment in public secondary schools is up by 47% while the primary schools increased by 27% leading Anambra to have the lowest out of school children in the country. Our 22 pilot smart schools have been fully rolled out, marking a major leap in building a digital tribe.

The lost glory of public education has been restored. Today, our public schools are winning national awards, our students are excelling in external examinations such as WAEC, and our teachers are celebrated across Nigeria as the Best.

We have also sustained the monthly operational costs for both primary and secondary schools to ensure they have the required resources to deliver the quality education we promised.

These efforts are complemented by several other ongoing interventions across the sector. Our commitment to partnership with the mission schools remains unwavering. Currently, the government spends over ₦1.2 billion monthly to pay the salaries of government teachers deployed to these schools, excluding the pensions and gratuity of teachers who retired from them.

In the health sector, the revolution is also on. Our policy to provide free antenatal and delivery services for pregnant women has benefitted about 161,197 women (including free 594 caesarean surgery), with zero mortality.

We have commissioned four out of the five brand-new General Hospitals initiated by our administration in local governments that never had a general hospital. The construction, modernization, and equipping of 326 Primary Health Centres across the State with solar power, boreholes, and essential medical equipment are at an advanced stage.

The Trauma Centre at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital has been fully completed, strengthening our capacity for emergency care. As a government, we are also determined to complete the Coordinated Wholesale Centre in Oba – a drug market that will be the largest in Africa. Let me assure this Honorable House that the decades-long jinx will soon be broken.

This project is crucial to ending the challenges associated with open and unregulated drug markets in Anambra State. Additionally, the construction of a new nursing school in the State has reached advanced stages, further strengthening our health workforce pipeline.

Building the capacity of our young people and empowering them remains a top priority of our administration. Through our One Youth, Two Skills programme, we have continued to equip our youth with the skills required to survive and thrive. We have successfully graduated and empowered 13,300 youth entrepreneurs who proudly describe themselves as young millionaires. Solution Innovation District (SID), our digital transformation agenda is gaining traction.

So far, 95,735 young people have been trained in various digital skills, positioning Anambra as a talent hub in Nigeria. The iconic SID building, our own version of Silicon Valley, a place where the next generation of tech giants and innovators will be birthed is now at the finishing stages.

Once completed, it will become the nerve centre of digital skills development, innovation, and entrepreneurship in our state.

As a government founded on the manifesto of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) with a progressive ideal to “leave no one behind,” we are very intentional about building human capacity and lifting people out of poverty.

In addition to the foregoing— health and education as well as youth empowerment—our reinvention of the M.I. Okpara oil palm revolution plus other rare seedlings—coconut, ukwa, bitter kola, etc—are targeted at lifting over 200,000 households out of poverty and empowering people for life.

We have sustained our zero-tax policy for petty traders as well as for artisans, barrow pushers, hawkers, and other vulnerable groups. Furthermore, this administration continues to place the highest priority on the welfare of Ndi Anambra, especially our workers and pensioners.

We have cleared about N22 billion in arrears of gratuity owed to state and local government retirees which this administration inherited and already paid two tranches to clear the arrears owed to dismissed workers of the defunct Water Corporation since over 17 years ago—and will soon pay the final tranche. We now take the prompt payment of monthly salaries, pensions, and gratuity for granted.

The welfare of our workers remains central to our social contract and to the inclusive development we are working tirelessly to deliver.

Mr. Speaker, Hon Members, the list of outcomes is too long for this address. We have said nothing about the robust reforms of how government works—transparent, tech-driven, service-oriented, and value-for money cultured public service.

For example, our land administration has been digitalized and it now takes a few days rather than months/years to obtain/change C of Os.

We have said nothing about how we are battling and taming our environment, which is Anambra’s number one existential threat. As we stated earlier, a more comprehensive report is coming next year.

Let us get back to the budget matter. Recall that on November 19, 2024, I presented to this Honorable House the 2025 Budget, titled “Changing Gears 2.0”, which you diligently reviewed and passed into law. We proposed a modest budget of ₦606,991,849,118 for the 2025 fiscal year, compared to ₦410 billion for 2024, representing a 48% increase.

Recurrent expenditure stood at ₦139.5 billion (a 45% YoY growth), while capital expenditure was ₦467.5 billion (48.9% YoY growth). The budget deficit was estimated at ₦139.5 billion, representing 24% of the budget compared to 30% in 2024.

As you are aware, the macroeconomic environment in which we are implementing the 2025 budget has been both challenging and reassuring. Inflation persisted in double digits with significant pressures on the cost of living and the cost of governance.

However, there is relative stability in the macro-economic environment, with declining headline inflation as well as stable exchange rates.

Our IGR, as of October 2025, showed year-on-year improvement, though still below projections, while expected receipts from the Federation Account fell below expectation. Despite the foregoing, budget performance stood above 60% pro rata, and notably even in an election year, we remained focused on execution mode.

Here, today, and before you is the 2026 Budget Proposal for Anambra State. From all that has been presented thus far, it is evident that there is no slowing down in our journey. Rather, we will accentuate the drive as this is an agenda with a deadline.

We remain focused on acceleration mode, driven by a steadfast commitment to execution. In 2026, we intend to focus even more intensely and intentionally on the full execution of our multi-faceted agenda.

Accordingly, we have appropriately titled the 2026 Budget: “Changing Gears 3.0: Solution Continues”. Yes, indeed Solution Continues — and surely in the second term of this administration, we will turn on to Gear 4 for speedy acceleration as we continue to lay solid foundations en route to Anambra’s ADTS vision.

The proposed budget size for the 2026 fiscal year is ₦757,884,487,705. When compared to the 2025 budget of ₦606,991,849,118, this represents a 24.1% increase, reflecting our intensified focus on execution. Recurrent expenditure is projected at ₦162.6 billion, representing a 16.6% year-on-year growth, while capital expenditure stands at ₦595.3 billion, a 26.3% growth relative to 2025.

Notably, the Capital Budget accounts for 79% of the total budget size, with recurrent expenditure at 21% — a clear demonstration of our commitment to deliver tangible outcomes for Ndi Anambra.

The budget deficit is estimated at ₦225.7 billion, representing 29.8% of the total budget size. As previously, this deficit is expected to be financed, if necessary, through hybrid financing options including possible privatization proceeds, bump in IGR collections, and concessionary borrowing mostly for bankable projects.

However, since the beginning of this administration, we have not borrowed to finance budget deficits, and depending on the pace of execution in 2026, we may still not need to borrow.

Our fiscal discipline remains firm. Relative to 2025, all key sectors increased year-on-year: Administrative Sector (12.2%), Economic Sector (26.7%), Social Sector (31.4%), Education (46.9%), Health (13%), and Infrastructure Investments (27.7%).

These increases reflect our priorities in strengthening human capital, boosting economic growth, expanding critical infrastructure, and securing the well-being of Ndi Anambra.

Our focus in 2026 is to deepen and consolidate the foundations laid in our first tenure, while also introducing new legacy projects that will define Anambra’s future for decades to come while delivering across the five pillars of the Solution Agenda.

Our central priorities remain Security, law, and order; Infrastructure and Economic Transformation; and Human Capital Development.

At least 70% of the 2026 budget is allocated to these critical sectors, reflecting their importance to our long-term development trajectory. We are sustaining the momentum of our transport infrastructure revolution especially building/dualizing strategic roads, bridges, and flyovers that connect the entire state.

We will continue major investments in our mass transit systems, expanding buses, developing new jetties, acquiring boats, and facilitating safer, faster transportation along our waterways. We are exploring PPP financing model for our Rail Masterplan.

Alongside this, we are progressing with the development of three new cities: Awka 2.0, Greater Niger, and the Aerotropolis/ New Industrial-commercial City. The construction of the Anambra Mixed-Use Industrial City will commence in earnest in 2026.

This project signals the next phase of our industrial transformation. Urban planning and regeneration will be accelerated. Furthermore, we will intensify efforts to enhance the Ease of Doing Business in Anambra State, ensuring that our State remains the preferred destination for both local and foreign investors.

In 2026, our plan is to deepen ongoing investments in education, sustaining our free and qualitative education and bursary scheme. We will continue constructing new schools, while upgrading and equipping existing ones to meet modern standards.

To begin, we will commence the construction of new public primary schools in 30 out of the 76 communities that have never had a public primary school, setting a new benchmark for what an ideal school should look like in Anambra State.

Alongside this, we will sustain the aggressive upgrade of infrastructure in our primary and secondary schools through multiple schemes especially the ASUBEB programme, ensuring that learning environments across the State are conducive and equipped.

In addition, we will be establishing two specialist tertiary institutions to strengthen our higher education. We will continue to support mission schools, particularly the returned mission schools. Government teachers posted to these schools help to make them stronger and reduce their charges on pupils/students.

To further strengthen collaboration, a committee will be set up to work closely with the Missions to identify additional ways the government can support these returned schools within our resource constraints. Our shared goal remains clear: to ensure that every child in Anambra State has access to qualitative and transformative education for the 21st century.

Similarly, we will be deepening our ongoing interventions in healthcare and, in addition, completing the investment in the entire healthcare ecosystem with the completion of our College of Nursing and the construction of our specialist teaching hospital (with specialization in Oncology).

Alongside these, we will continue the renovation and equipping of existing primary and secondary healthcare facilities across the State, among other interventions. Also, in 2026, we plan to scale up the One Youth, Two Skills programme to accommodate even more young people, equipping them with the skills and resources needed to thrive as entrepreneurs.

We are equally intensifying our investment in digital skills development. This includes the completion of the iconic Solution Innovation District (SID) building and the development of the broader district in partnership with the private sector, further positioning Anambra as a growing hub for technology and innovation.

Access to clean water is not a luxury. We are expanding water schemes with a goal of general access to safe, reliable water for household and industrial use.

We will continue our efforts to extend power access to underserved communities and affordable power to major business axis in the state. We have developed a regulatory framework based on the bill passed by this House for developing Anambra Electricity Market.

We have constituted and inaugurated the Board of the new Anambra State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ASERC), and the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has ordered the transfer of regulatory oversight to them in compliance with the National Electricity Amendment Act of 2023. This signposts that the state is fully ready for the private sector investment in the sector.

The needs of poor and vulnerable individuals are also addressed in this budget. For example, besides the free education, free medical services and tax breaks for the poor, tens of thousands of households will receive ten or more seedlings of coconut, palm, ukwa, pawpaw, soursop, and other crops per household as we have done in the past.

We will also provide grants to micro-businesses across 326 wards in the state as part of our commitment to our Party’s mantra of being our brother’s and sister’s keeper.

Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members, what lies before you today is not just a booklet of numbers, it is a blueprint of solution, a framework for disciplined growth, and a strategic response to our economic realities.

The 2026 budget size stands at approximately $520 million, modest not only in historical terms but especially when adjusted for today’s inflation and the sharply depreciated purchasing power of the naira. Even if we execute this budget at 100%, it will still represent merely a fraction of what was spent in some previous years.

But Ndi Anambra, we have no excuses. We applied for this job. We asked for your mandate and we must deliver, despite all constraints.

This administration remains fully committed to responsible fiscal management. As stated in the 2025 budget, we will only borrow under two strict conditions: the loan must be concessionary with low interest rates, and the borrowing must finance projects with clear, measurable plans for future repayment.

No borrowing for consumption. No borrowing for frivolity. Only borrowing to build assets, generate revenue, and strengthen the future.

Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members, funding the budget remains one of our most persistent challenges. Under this administration, frugality is not a slogan, it is a culture, a discipline, and a way of life. Our mantra remains: doing more with less.

It is no accident that Anambra has been ranked No. 1 in fiscal transparency, and more recently, the leading State in fiscal sustainability. We have cut the cost of governance to the bare bones, prioritizing value over volume.

The unprecedented ratio of 21% recurrent to 79% capital expenditure speaks volumes. We are investing in tomorrow, not consuming today.

Our weakest link, however, remains the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). For several years, our IGR performance has consistently fallen short of budgeted expectations and potential.

In the coming weeks, we will be partnering to launch an aggressive, technology-driven renewal of our revenue system, blocking leakages, widening the tax net, supporting willing taxpayers, and enforcing compliance where necessary. Ndi Anambra, we must all join hands. The future we seek cannot be funded by wishful thinking.

We will continue to deepen strategic partnerships with the Federal Government, the international community, the private sector, our productive local governments, and vibrant communities.

We are proud of the many communities and stakeholders who, in the true Anambra spirit, are investing heavily in their communities, building roads, upgrading schools and hospitals, co-funding security, and complementing government efforts in unprecedented ways.

Together, we are expanding the big tent of collective development. To demonstrate our commitment to our development partners, we have set aside counterpart funding in this budget. This will unlock more opportunities, more grants, and more collaborative projects for our State.

Finally and to conclude, Mr. Speaker and Honorable members, let me once again express my profound appreciation to the members of the Solution Team, the distinguished Members of the 8th Assembly, the Judiciary, our committed public and civil servants, our indefatigable teachers, and our gallant security agencies.

I extend warm gratitude to our community leaders, traditional rulers, religious bodies, the private sector, the international community, the President and the Federal Government, the media, NGOs, our youths, women, and students. Your sacrifices, and your unrelenting support remain the pillars of our progress. We do not, and will never, take them for granted.

As we implement the 2026 budget, your continued partnership will be indispensable. I assure you that every kobo entrusted to us will be deployed prudently, transparently, and with maximum value for our people.

Ndi Anambra have placed their trust in us, and together with our Solution Team, we will continue to work day and night to lay solid foundations for the prosperous, livable, smart homeland we envision.

President Tinubu welcomes the freed Kebbi schoolgirls, charges the security forces to rescue others still in captivity

President Bola Tinubu has welcomed the release today of the 24 schoolgirls abducted by terrorists in Maga Kebbi last Monday.

Terrorists struck at the school at dawn on November 17 and abducted the girls, moments after a military detachment left the premises.

The Kebbi incident triggered some other copycat kidnappings in Eruku in Kwara State and Papiri in Niger State.

All 38 kidnapped victims in Eruku were freed on Sunday. The same day, the Niger State chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria said 50 of the missing students of the Catholic School in Niger have been found in their parents’ homes.

President Tinubu applauded the security agents for all the efforts made to secure freedom for all the victims taken away by the terrorists.

He tasked the security agents to make more efforts to rescue the remaining students still being held captive.

“ I am relieved that all the 24 girls have been accounted for. Now, we must put as a matter of urgency more boots on the ground in the vulnerable areas to avert further incidents of kidnapping. My government will offer all the assistance needed to achieve this,” President Tinubu said.

Watch video below:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17STCDNgoj

All 24 remaining schoolgirls abdcted from a boarding school in northwestern Nigeria have been successfully rescued, authorities announced Tuesday evening.

The operation, described as a “relentless intelligence-driven assault” on the kidnappers’ forest hideout, marks a rare victory against the escalating wave of banditry plaguing the region and comes just eight days after the harrowing raid that shocked the world.

The dramatic liberation unfolded in the dense forests bordering Kebbi, Zamfara, and Sokoto states, where local hunters, elite military units, and police tactical teams converged in a coordinated dawn raid.

According to a joint statement from the Nigerian Army and Kebbi State Police Command, the girls—ranging in age from 12 to 17—were found “unharmed but traumatized” in a makeshift camp deep within the wilderness.

No ransom was paid, officials emphasized, crediting the success to advanced surveillance, community tips, and the tireless efforts of ground forces.

“This is a testament to our unyielding commitment to the safety of every Nigerian child,” declared President Bola Tinubu in a televised address from Abuja, flanked by top security chiefs.

“The monsters who dared to steal our daughters from their beds will face the full wrath of justice. We will not rest until every shadow of fear is banished from our schools and communities.

” Tinubu’s words echoed the sentiments of Kebbi Governor Nasir Idris, who earlier in the week had vowed “no stone unturned” during a somber visit to the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga town.

A Nightmare Recalled:

The Raid That Gripped a NationThe ordeal began in the pre-dawn hours of November 17, when a gang of at least 20 armed assailants on motorcycles stormed the school’s dormitory in Maga, a quiet border community in Kebbi South Senatorial District. Scaling the perimeter fence under cover of darkness, the gunmen—armed with AK-47 rifles and other sophisticated weapons—exchanged fierce gunfire with on-duty security guards before bundling 25 terrified girls into the night.

In the chaos, the school’s vice principal, Malam Ibrahim Hassan, was fatally shot while heroically shielding his students, leaving behind a wife and three young children. Another staff member was critically injured.

Eyewitness accounts from surviving students painted a scene of unimaginable terror. “They came like ghosts, shouting and firing into the air,” recounted 15-year-old Fatima Yusuf, one of two girls who evaded capture during the initial assault.

“We hid under our beds, but they dragged my friends away screaming. I ran when they turned their backs.” Another student, Aisha Mohammed, escaped captivity hours later on November 18, trekking miles through thorny underbrush to reach safety.

Her reunion with her family became a symbol of hope amid the despair, as shared in viral videos that trended across social media.Local leaders, including Senator Garba Maidoki, quickly pointed fingers at “economic terrorists”—bandit groups notorious for cattle rustling, village raids, and ransom kidnappings in the resource-rich but under-policed northwest.

Unlike the ideological fervor of groups like Boko Haram, these criminals operate as opportunistic syndicates, exploiting porous borders and vast ungoverned spaces to fund their operations.

“They have no flag, no cause—just greed,” Maidoki told reporters. Intelligence sources suggested the gang may have originated from nearby Zamfara, a longstanding hotspot for such atrocities.

The Rescue:

A Symphony of Strategy and SacrificeThe breakthrough came late Monday, November 24, following a high-level security summit in Abuja. President Tinubu, briefed by Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun and Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Waidi Shaibu, ordered an immediate escalation.

Among the reinforcements was Bello Matawalle, Minister of State for Defence and former Zamfara Governor, who relocated to Birnin Kebbi on November 21 to oversee operations on the ground.

Drawing from his experience quelling similar crises—including the 2021 Jangebe school abduction of 279 girls—Matawalle coordinated with local vigilantes and drone surveillance teams.

“Hours of tracking led us to their lair,” explained Army spokesperson Col. Ahmed Mohammed in a press briefing. “Our forces, supported by community hunters who know these forests like the back of their hands, struck at first light.

The bandits scattered, but not before we secured all 24 girls and neutralized three suspects.” Two soldiers sustained minor injuries, but no further casualties were reported among the rescuers or captives.

The girls, now receiving medical and psychological care at a secure facility in Birnin Kebbi, were reported to be in stable condition, with initial assessments revealing dehydration and minor bruises but no serious harm.

Reunions unfolded in tearful scenes broadcast live: Mothers clutching daughters they feared lost forever, fathers whispering prayers of thanks. “My baby is back—Allah is great,” sobbed Hajiya Zainab Bello, mother of 14-year-old rescuer Sara.

Vice President Kashim Shettima, who visited grieving families last week, returned Tuesday to lead a state reception, where the girls were honored with national flags and promises of scholarships to continue their education uninterrupted.