In the wake of the schoolchildren abductions in Oyo, Borno and Zamfara and the deepening security crisis in other parts of the country, attention again shifted to the forest guards and questions are now being asked about their efficiency, reliability and ability to rid our forests of depraved armed non-state actors and terrorists who have turned them into hideouts and the staging ground of their atrocities.
On May 15, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu launched the Presidential Forest Guards Initiative in response to the growing insecurity related to forests in Nigeria. The inauguration of the initiative was met with indifference in some places and mild opposition in some quarters but whatever the reaction of people to it petered out with the passage of time as the initiative itself became overshadowed by other topical issues of relative national significance.
However, the recent spate of abductions, particularly the attack on schools in the Oriire local government area of Oyo State and the abduction of students and teachers from the schools, has brought into sharp focus the forest guards initiative and thrust it into the centre of intense public discourse and debate.
The idea of forest guards was conceived in February 2024, following a meeting between the president and state governors, with a directive for states to recruit between 2,000 and 5,000 guards. The primary objective and main goal was to end the nefarious activities of bandits, kidnappers and other illegal groups hiding in the forests and mountains that are hard to reach.
In the wake of the schoolchildren abductions in Oyo, Borno and Zamfara and the deepening security crisis in other parts of the country, attention again shifted to the forest guards and questions are now being asked about their efficiency and ability to rid our forests of depraved armed non-state actors and terrorists who have turned them into hideouts and the staging ground of their atrocities.
When he led a delegation to Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo, where 46 school children and members of staff were abducted, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, disclosed the deployment of an additional 1,000 forest guards to salvage the situation.
In late December last year, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) graduated and deployed the first batch of over 7,000 newly recruited forest guards across Borno, Sokoto, Yobe, Adamawa, Niger, Kwara, and Kebbi states, which are the seven frontline states. According to ONSA, the forest guards would be deployed immediately to their assigned duty post once they concluded their training and graduated, adding that there would also be no delay in the payment of salaries and allowances of the guards.
Ribadu, who spoke at the graduation, noted that the forest guards were not just men in fancy security fatigues but individuals who would be vital and instrumental to the security architecture of the country as they would “serve as first responders, community protectors and crucial elements of Nigeria’s security framework. Their role will be pivotal in ensuring safety, gathering intelligence and assisting other security agencies in reclaiming territories seized by criminals”
However, almost two years after its launching and nearly six months after the first batch of the guards were graduated, there is no practical sign or proof of improvement in the nation’s security or that the NSA assurance and guarantee of the forest guards preparedness and ability to put an end to the reign of terror of the rampaging terrorists have resulted in visible and tangible gains in the drive to address the nation’s insecurity head-on. In light of this, Nigerians are now questioning the operational efficiency of those who were already recruited and deployed after the president issued an order for more recruitment amidst worsening insecurity.
Across many states, particularly the frontline states where the initiative was supposed to take off from, the level of recruitment, deployment and operation varied from state to state. The initiative has not been able to achieve the primary objectives it was set up for. One factor that appears to be impeding the entire initiative is the heavy reliance of the forest guards on existing security and agency for funding, strategic coordination and operational strategies. There is little they can do by way of unilateral engagement through well-planned offensives.
The initiative has turned out to be a perfunctory attempt to be seen as doing something by a government that has reached the end of its wits and is out of depth on how to tackle the insecurity in the country. It is somewhat illogical and counterproductive to task a deluge of dishevelled, hastily trained and poorly equipped individuals with addressing jarring perennial insecurity in the country that the well-funded conventional security operatives have disastrously failed to tackle.
While the initiative is a laudable and noble one, it must not become a substitute for long-standing conventional security apparatus. At the level they currently are, the forest guards cannot perform the security task and responsibility they are saddled with and it will take much more than the recruitment of more of them to tackle the security crisis in the country.
