President Bola Tinubu has approved the establishment of armed forest guards to secure Nigeria’s 1,129 forests from terrorists and criminal gangs.

This was made known on Wednesday by Sunday Dare, the special adviser to president Tinubu on media and public communication on his official X account.

“The President directed that the forest guards be well-trained and armed to carry out their primary duty of flushing out terrorists and other criminals hiding in the forests for illegal activities. The recruitment is a collaborative security effort between the federal and state governments.

“The Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Ministry of Environment have been tasked with overseeing and ensuring the full implementation of the initiative.

“Thousands of young Nigerians are expected to be employed as personnel of the newly established outfit.

President Tinubu had earlier 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.” He vowed that Nigeria “would take back its forests.”