Kaduna State graduated the pioneer batch of 1,101 Armed Forest Guards at the weekend, with Governor Uba Sani describing the milestone as a major step in the state’s determination to reclaim its forests from criminal elements and consolidate recent security gains across troubled communities.
Governor Sani noted that the growing sophistication of security threats required an equally coordinated and proactive response, explaining that the Forest Guards had been trained and authorised to deploy advanced capabilities against criminal groups that had turned forest corridors into operational bases.
According to him, the new security outfit has a clear mandate to deny criminals freedom of movement within forests, strengthen surveillance and intelligence gathering, and work in close collaboration with the Nigerian Armed Forces, the Police, the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and other security agencies. He stressed that the initiative was designed to reinforce, rather than replace, existing security institutions.
The governor lamented that for years vast forest areas in Kaduna had served as safe havens for bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers and other criminal gangs, leading to loss of life, displacement of communities and disruption of farming activities. He said his administration had chosen the path of decisive action to reverse the trend.
Highlighting the impact of ongoing security interventions, Governor Sani said more than 125 schools previously closed because of insecurity had reopened, while farming activities and healthcare services had resumed in many affected communities. He added that local government areas such as Birnin Gwari, Giwa, Kachia, Kajuru, Kauru and Zangon Kataf, once considered largely inaccessible, had recorded significant improvements in security and economic activity.
The governor also appealed to the Federal Government to approve an additional 1,000 Forest Guards for Kaduna, describing security as the foremost priority of his administration. He expressed confidence that the request would receive favourable consideration in view of the successes already recorded through the initiative.
“I am proud, and I believe the people of Kaduna State are proud, that this training has been adjudged the best in the country,” he said, thanking President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, for their unwavering support in strengthening security across the state.
Representing the National Security Adviser, the Director of Internal Security in the Office of the NSA, Mallam Sani Sani, said the partnership between the Federal Government and the Kaduna State Government was already yielding measurable results in tackling insecurity. He disclosed that independent evaluations had ranked Kaduna’s Forest Guard training as the best conducted anywhere in the country.
He assured the state that the Office of the National Security Adviser would readily support additional training batches if requested, adding that the graduates had undergone intensive instruction in weapons handling, physical fitness, combat readiness, civil-military relations, inter-agency cooperation, and adherence to the rule of law and international humanitarian law.
According to him, the Armed Forest Guard initiative was launched by President Tinubu on May 24, 2025, to secure Nigeria’s ungoverned forest spaces, protect biodiversity, watersheds and wildlife, and deny criminal groups the freedom to operate within forest environments. He said the President mandated the Office of the National Security Adviser to provide strategic leadership and coordinate the programme nationwide.
Sani explained that the graduates were expected to return to their communities as the first line of defence against security threats, serving as first responders before conventional security agencies arrived. He also assured them that there would be no delay between their graduation, the commencement of salaries, and deployment to operational areas.
The Training Officer, Lieutenant Commander Sani Abdullahi of the Nigerian Navy, said the two-month programme, which commenced on June 15, 2026, covered weapons handling, marksmanship, patrols, tracking, raids and ambush tactics, combat first aid, communication, cordon-and-search operations, and other specialised field skills required for effective forest security operations.
He said the training had produced a disciplined and professionally prepared corps of Forest Guard Rangers capable of supporting security operations and protecting lives, property and critical national assets across the state.
Governor Sani charged the newly graduated personnel to discharge their responsibilities with courage, discipline, integrity and respect for human rights, urging communities to support them by providing timely and credible intelligence.
He reiterated that his administration would continue to invest in technology, intelligence, education, agriculture and job creation to address both the immediate and underlying causes of insecurity, insisting that sustainable development could only thrive in a secure environment.