Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum on Friday said President Bola Tinubu has assured him that the Nigerian Army, the Department of State Services and the Office of the National Security Adviser will take necessary measures to rescue children abducted from Askira-Uba Local Government Area very soon.

Zulum spoke to State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after meeting the President on the security situation in the state.

He said he had raised the recent abductions in Askira-Uba with Tinubu, including those in the Mussa community, and the President responded with assurances.

“The President has said it very well because I’ve complained to him about the recent abductions that were done in Askira-Uba Local Government of Borno State, where some children were abducted in Mussa and other communities,” Zulum said, adding, “And, inshallah, the President has given me the assurances that the Nigerian Army, the office of the Director of the DSS, as well as the office of the National Security Adviser, will take necessary measures in ensuring that these abducted children are rescued very soon.”

Despite the abductions, Zulum said security in Borno had improved significantly over the past six months to a year.

According to him, “In terms of security, we are getting better. For the last six months or one year, things have started taking a very good shape. We have resettled communities.

Within the last seven years, we have resettled over two million people back to their ancestral homes.”

He said the state was now working to resettle the remaining key locations, particularly Kareto, which he described as “a very disturbing case.”

Kareto lies between Damasak and Gubio, a stretch of about 100 kilometres where, Zulum explained, abductions and attacks used to be frequent.
He said the Chief of Army Staff had approved the establishment of a community there, along with a military formation.

“The establishment of a military formation in this place will go a long way in curbing serious crisis along this route,” he stated.

The governor said the state was also looking to reopen the Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu road, which he said had left residents making long detours.

“Our people used to go to Biu through Gombe, about 600 or 700 kilometres, instead of just spending 200 kilometres,” he explained.

He said the minister concerned had trained about 1,000 forest guards, who would soon be deployed.

The Maiduguri-Biu road would be reopened by November or December at the latest, he added, and another community, Sabangari, would be established to strengthen security in the area.

Zulum said other fragile locations, including areas in Chibok and Askira-Uba local governments where the recent abductions occurred, would also be addressed.

On oil exploration, Zulum said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited had informed Borno that it would soon resume activities in the North-East, especially in the state.

He noted that the exploration had been suspended for about a year or two because of “logistical problems and others.”

“They have written a letter to us that very soon they will come and resume exploration activities in the state. A letter to this effect has been written to the state governors.

‘Especially, I am in receipt of this letter,” he said.

Gunmen abducted between 42 and 44 children from a primary and junior secondary school and nearby homes in Mussa, Askira-Uba Local Government Area, on May 15, 2026.

They have been in captivity for nearly five months with parents demanding their rescue.

Zulum said in August that Tinubu was committed to bringing them home.

Maiduguri also suffered three suicide bombings on March 16, 2026, at the entrance of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and two markets, which killed at least 27 people.

Zulum urged the Federal Government on October 3, at the North-East Governors’ Forum in Maiduguri, to revisit stalled oil exploration in Magumeri and Gubio local governments.

The NNPC resumed drilling in the Chad Basin in 2023, when the late former President Muhammadu Buhari flagged off drilling in Borno.