FG Expands Forest Guards Initiative to 10 States

The Federal Government has expanded the Presidential Forest Guards Initiative to 10 states, training more than 9,000 personnel to enhance security in forests and ungoverned areas exploited by kidnappers and bandits. The initiative, coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser, includes states such as Kaduna, Edo, and Kogi, where over 2,000 forest guards have completed training.

This follows the earlier training of more than 7,000 guards in Borno, Sokoto, Yobe, Adamawa, Niger, Kwara, and Kebbi states. Recruits were selected from communities heavily impacted by security threats due to their familiarity with local terrains.

The training covered arms handling, navigation, and intelligence gathering, designed to integrate their environmental knowledge with operational skills. The initiative aims to restrict criminal movements through poorly monitored forest corridors and improve the ability of security agencies to access difficult locations.