President Bola Tinubu has approved the establishment of a national forest guard system and ordered the recruitment of over 130,000 armed operatives to secure the country’s 1,129 forest reserves.
The approval is contained in a statement released by the special adviser to the president on media and public communication, Mr Sunday Dare, on his X handle, entitled: ‘Forest guards established by federal government.’
“President Tinubu has approved the establishment of forest guards and commencement of their employment to secure the 1,129 forests in the country.
“The President directed that the forest guards are to be well-trained and armed to perform their duties, which is essentially to flush out terrorists and criminal gangs hiding inside the forests for criminal activities.
“This recruitment is a security collaborative effort between the federal and state governments. The office of the NSA and the ministry of environment have been directed to take charge and ensure full implementation.
“Thousands of young Nigerians are expected to be employed as personnel of the outfit,” Dare said.
The initiative, approved during Monday’s expanded federal executive council meeting, mandated each state to recruit between 2,000 and 5,000 forest guards based on their capacity.
A rough projection of 3,500 recruits per state translates to over 130,000 new forest guards, including those for the Federal Capital Territory.
