Insecurity: Security Experts, Community Leaders Differ On Effectiveness Of Forest Guards

Security experts and community leaders in Kwara State have expressed mixed feelings about the recruitment of forest guards to secure the nation’s ungoverned spaces.

An Ilorin-born retired police community support officer in the United Kingdom, Taiwo Hanbali AbdulRaheem, said that the recruitment of forest guards was the right step in the right direction.

He, however, said that the forest guards lack the capacity to subdue the bandits, who he noted have more sophisticated weapons than the Nigerian Army.

AbdulRaheem said the government should employ high-tech technology in the fight against the bandits, as is being done in the United Kingdom, Mali, and Burkina Faso.

He added:” It’s ok. Right step in the right direction. It may not solve our security challenges. What we need is powerful technology that can monitor the bandits. We need powerful drones that will capture all our forests and other strategic areas. The soldiers will not go to attack them, but should use drones to kill them. Recruiting forest guards will not solve the problem; they (bandits) will just kill them. In the UK, drones are used to monitor forests. The bandits have modern, sophisticated weapons that our soldiers do not. We need CCTV. Burkina Faso and Mali are using this method. “

A retired senior police officer, Ajayi Okasanmi, said:” The order to employ 1000 forest guards to fortify security architecture in some states is a good attempt, but it would have been better if it had come before the attack. State police, on the other hand, can help in the fight, but the government is not really being proactive, and this has helped the terrorists in making a success of all their terror attacks.

“The government should not just make an announcement, they should put out the plans for the training, the equipment and welfare of those forest guards they are planning to recruit, if something tangible must come from the policy.”

The coordinator of the Joint Security Watch, Kwara South, Elder Olaitan Zubair, said:” We need more( forest guards).  But the government should focus on screening and guiding the forests.”

For his part, the senior special assistant on Security, Alh Muhideen Aliyu, said the government, especially at the local government level, was also incorporating local hunters and vigilantes in the fight against insurgency, while the state government was providing logistics support for them.

He added:” The council chairmen have been directed and empowered to organise a government security (vigilantes) team to be supported ànd complimented by the conventional security outfit, which includes the Army and the forest guards.

This team covers the entire LGA, depending on the level of threat in different communities.  Felodun, Edu, Patigi, Moro, as well as Offa and Oyun LGAs, to mention a few, are already operating in these localities.”