May 14, (THEWILL) – President Bola Tinubu has approved the establishment of forest guards and commencement of their employment to secure the 1,129 forests in the country.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.
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.
While the recruitment is a security collaborative effort between the federal and state governments, the President directed “The office of the NSA and the Ministry of Environment” to take charge and ensure full implementation.
While he vowed that the “country would take back its forests”, the President said his administration would not “surrender an inch of the country’s territory to terrorists, bandits, and other criminal gangs operating inside the forests.