President Muhammadu Buhari has admitted that service chiefs have been performing below expectations, despite worsening insecurity that should have kept them on their toes.

In an NTA interview to celebrate the release of abducted schoolboys in Katsina, the president said the “armed forces know their job. I meet them, we have security meetings from time to time. They must be very clear of my instructions. Their effort is not good enough for me.”

The president did not immediately indicate whether or not he would fire the officers, who have been criticised as ‘incompetent’ by security experts and Nigerians.

The high school students were arrested last week from their school in Kankara, the president’s home Katsina State. Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the mass abduction on Thursday, but the boys were released shortly afterwards.

It was unclear whether a ransom exchanged hands between authorities and the kidnappers. The government has insisted there was no ransom paid, but Nigerians are reluctant to believe the claim because of authorities’ record of untruths in handling similar situations in the past, especially on the release of Chibok and Dapchi girls.