LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The office of Nigeria's president says police and civil defense forces are ordered to defend all schools in "liberated areas" of the northeast to avoid further attacks on schools by Boko Haram extremists.

Many in Africa's most populous country are outraged by the kidnapping of 110 girls in a Feb. 19 attack on a school in Dapchi town. It reminded many of the Chibok mass abduction of 276 schoolgirls in 2014.

President Muhammadu Buhari's office says leaders of police and civil defense forces are ordered to coordinate with the military and governors of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states to "ensure deployment of personnel to all schools."

Buhari made the fight against Boko Haram a key issue ahead of the 2015 election and now faces pressure ahead of next year's vote.