President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the establishment of a new national security initiative, an armed forest guard corps tasked with reclaiming Nigeria’s forests from terrorist groups and criminal elements who have entrenched themselves in these remote and often ungoverned spaces.

This development, confirmed in a statement released Wednesday by Mr. Sunday Dare, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, marks a major policy move in the fight against insecurity. According to the statement, the new forest guard unit will be composed primarily of young Nigerians who will be employed, trained, and equipped to confront and dislodge terrorists and bandits operating within the nation’s vast forest reserves.

“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,” Mr. Dare stated. He added that the initiative is designed as a collaborative effort between federal and state governments.

President Tinubu, who has consistently reiterated his administration’s determination to protect every inch of Nigerian territory, charged both the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the Federal Ministry of Environment with overseeing the full implementation of the program.

“President Tinubu had warned terrorists that his administration would not surrender an inch of the country’s territory to terrorists, bandits, and other criminal gangs operating inside the forests,” the statement noted. “He vowed that the country would take back its forests.”

The plan comes amid growing concerns over the rising influence of non-state actors in Nigeria’s forest regions. Official records show that Nigeria has over 1,129 forests, many of which are reportedly under the control of armed insurgents, especially in the North-east, North-west, and parts of the South.

Sambisa Forest, long known as a hideout for Boko Haram insurgents in the North-east, remains a prominent example of how forest terrain has become a refuge for terrorist activity. Similarly, in the North-west, criminal groups popularly referred to as bandits are said to operate from heavily wooded reserves like Kamuku, Rugu, Birnin Gwari, and Kuwaimbana. These groups exploit Nigeria’s porous borders and forest networks to establish strategic routes into the North-central and South-west, including Alawa forest, Kainji National Park, Old Oyo National Park, and the Ondo forest axis.Just as in the South-east, some secessionist groups are also believed to have built operational bases within forested areas, posing yet another layer of security challenges.