FEW weeks ago, the Federal Government announced a proposal to set up 130,000 Forest Guards corps to provide security in Nigeria’s over 1,129 forest reserves. It is a welcome development against the backdrop of the activities of rampaging well- armed cattle herders that have been occupying swathes of forests, destroying farms, killing and kidnapping, raping women and even occupying sacked villages.
However, prior to the May 15, 2025 announcement of the plan by one of President Bola Tinubu’s media aides, there was no hint on the nature and make up of such a corps. The only thing that emerged since the announcement is that the office of the National Security Adviser and the federal Ministry of Environment have been mandated to superintendent its fruition.
An information that makes the proposal appealing on face value is the potential for the engagement of up to 130,000 people into the Forest Guards corps.
What is unsettling is the role of the Federal Government in the initiative. As a federal project where the National Security Adviser may play a pivotal role, we are concerned that the initiative may become another bogus federal agency not rooted in the peculiar security challenges of various parts of the country. The state of the Nigeria Police Force and its increasing ineffectiveness to deal with the emerging security situation has shown that a single Police organisation with the command and control centre domiciled in Abuja far removed from the varying challenges has been the bane of curbing insecurity.
In the case of the envisaged Forest Guards Corps, factors that have been fueling calls for the authorisation of state police may cripple the plan even before take-off. Firstly, the Land Use Act confers on state governors’ control over lands. By extension, they control the forests with their peculiar features. Secondly, the utilisation of forests varies across the various regions. While in the south and the Middle Belt forests are ancestral heritage that fuel agricultural production, militant cattle herders see forests and farms therein as free areas for them to roam, occupy and destroy. This attitude is being actively encouraged and supported by elite political leaders, traditional and religious.
The Federal Government, which does not own the forests, cannot logically be directly involved in their security. We believe that states in conjunction with local governments should have the exclusive responsibility of securing forests by setting up and controlling the Forests Guards in their jurisdictions. They should recruit, equip and control the corps within their territory. The personnel to be recruited should be sourced entirely from the state and not be subjected to undue infiltration by people not indigenous to the state.
The Federal Government’s involvement should revolve around drawing up the operational framework for the corps and training the personnel on weapon handling. If the Federal Government gets involved in the corps’ operational and command activities, the objectives will be defeated. This is because over centralisation and concentration of powers at the centre have been a major impediment to effectiveness not just in security but other facets of national life. It is what precipitated the calls for state Police.
The proposed Forest Guards Corps has the potential of restoring confidence among the rural population and farmers regularly traumatized by rampaging murderous militants armed with sophisticated military grade assault rifles that continue to wreak havoc across Nigeria with its impact on food insecurity. If the proposed corps should come to be, it must be controlled entirely by the states and shielded from the notorious federal overreach with its debilitating consequences.
