President Bola Tinubu has ordered the recruitment of Nigerian youths as national forest guards to secure the country’s 1,129 forest reserves.
Sunday Dare, presidential spokesperson, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, titled “Forest Guards Established by Federal Government.”
According to him, the initiative, approved during Monday’s expanded Federal Executive Council meeting, mandates each state to recruit between 2,000 and 5,000 forest guards based on their capacity.
The recruitment and training will be supervised by the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Ministry of Environment.
A rough projection of 3,500 recruits per state translates to over 130,000 new forest guards, including those for the Federal Capital Territory.
Each state is expected to recruit at least 2,000 to 5,000 heavily-armed and well-trained forest guards, depending on its financial capacity, and the recruitment would be supervised by the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Ministry of Environment.
A rough estimate of about 3,500 recruits per state would result in the recruitment of at least 130,000 forest guards across the states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“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,” the statement read.
During a recent visit to Katsina State, the President had warned that his administration would not surrender an inch of the country’s territory to terrorists, bandits, and other criminal gangs operating inside the forests and vowed that the country would take back its forests.
