ABUJA, Nigeria – In a major move to tackle the nation’s security challenges, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the establishment of the Forest Guards of Nigeria, a new security outfit tasked with reclaiming the country’s vast woodland areas from terrorists and bandits.
The directive, announced on Wednesday, mandates the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to commence the immediate recruitment of personnel for the new force.
According to a statement by Sunday Dare, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, the primary mandate of the Forest Guards will be to “take charge of 1,129 forests” across the country to “combat terrorists and bandits” using them as hideouts.
President Tinubu specifically directed that the guards be “well-trained and armed” to effectively carry out their duty of “flushing out terrorists and other criminals hiding in the forests for illegal activities.”
The initiative is framed as a collaborative security effort between the federal and state governments. The Office of the NSA and the Federal Ministry of Environment have been jointly tasked with overseeing and ensuring the full implementation of the program.
The establishment of the guards is expected to have a significant impact on employment, with “thousands of young Nigerians” projected to be recruited into the new outfit.
This decision follows a recent warning from President Tinubu, who vowed that his administration “would not surrender an inch of the country’s territory to terrorists, bandits, and other criminal gangs operating inside the forests.”
He emphatically stated that Nigeria “would take back its forests,” signaling a renewed and direct approach to combating the insecurity that has plagued various regions of the country.
