Nigeria has killed more than 13,000 "terrorists" in the past year, President Bola Tinubu said Friday, adding that the death toll from terrorist attacks in the country is down 81 percent since he took power in 2023.

Africa's most populous country is fighting a long-running terror campaign across its northern regions.

President Bola Tinubu, up for re-election in January, declared a nationwide security emergency last November in efforts to respond to a wave of mass kidnappings and violence.

Tinubu, speaking during a televised address to mark the country's democracy day celebrations, said: "Over 13,000 terrorists have been neutralised in the past year".

He did not specify if he meant in 2025 or in the previous 12 months.

‘Laid down arms’

The president also said that over "124,000 fighters and dependents have laid down their arms since 2023 through Operation Safe Corridor".

Tinubu's first term in office has also overseen the deployment of US troops to the country.

Terrorist attacks have killed tens of thousands and displaced millions since 2009.

In one of the latest attempts to tackle the security crisis, the government launched a recruitment drive for 50,000 police personnel and has this year allocated a 5.41 trillion naira ($4 billion) budget to the military - which Tinubu said was the biggest for defence in the country's history.

Military collaborations with the United States, France, and "other European countries" he did not name, have progressed from training to "precision targeting" leading to the degradation of the command centre of the Boko Haram terrorist group in northeastern Borno state.

The US Africa Command this week said its joint operations with Nigeria had killed more than 200 Daesh-linked terrorists.