Kaduna’s forest guard training best in Nigeria, says Ribadu

The office of the national security adviser (ONSA) says Kaduna has recorded the highest-rated training programme for armed forest guards in the country.

Nuhu Ribadu, the national security adviser (NSA), who was represented by Sani Sani, director of internal security at ONSA, spoke at the graduation of the pioneer batch of armed forest guards in Kaduna on Saturday.

“From the evaluation that we carried out across the country, the training in Kaduna State has been recorded as the best at the moment,” he said.

Ribadu added that the office would readily support further training requests from the Kaduna government.

“The Office of the National Security Adviser will not have any doubt, to grant another request to Kaduna state to continue this kind of training if the governor wishes to do so,” he said.

The NSA said more than 1,000 forest guards underwent training in weapons handling, physical fitness, battle readiness, civil-military relations, cooperation with other security services, engagement with host communities, and observance of the rule of law.

According to him, the guards are expected to serve as the first line of defence in their communities against criminal elements operating in forest areas.

“The beneficiaries of this training are expected to go back to their respective communities and establish a first line community resilience, to resist every invading enemy of the state as first responders, before the arrival of various security agencies,” he said.

Ribadu noted that President Bola Tinubu launched the armed forest guard initiative on May 24, 2025, to train indigenous residents to secure forests and other ungoverned spaces across the country.

He said the initiative is aimed at protecting “our ungoverned spaces, particularly the forest belts, protect our biodiversity, watersheds and wildlife”.

He added that the forest guards would form “a security architecture that will dominate the forest and deny criminal elements the freedom of action within our forest spaces”.

According to the NSA, Tinubu directed ONSA to provide strategic leadership for the initiative and oversee the training of forest guards nationwide.

Speaking at the event, Uba Sani, Kaduna governor, described the recognition as a validation of the state’s efforts to strengthen security and requested the approval of an additional 1,000 forest guards.

“I also want to use this opportunity to formally make additional request of another 1,000 forest guards in Kaduna. In our state, security is one of the most important agenda of our government,” the governor said.

Sani said the security situation in Kaduna had improved since he assumed office in 2023, noting that areas previously affected by insecurity had become more accessible.

The governor cited Birnin Gwari, Giwa and Kachia as among the frontline LGAs that had witnessed improvements, attributing the gains to the state’s collaboration with the federal government.

“Many local governments were not accessible due to insecurity when we came in in 2023. But people can now go to such local governments without police escorts. And that, in my opinion, is progress,” he said.

“Today, because of our collaboration with the federal government, the support of our leader, President Bola Tinubu, we have been able to address most of the problems of insecurity in those frontline local governments.”