The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has commended Kaduna State for running what it described as the country’s top-performing armed forest guard training programme following an assessment conducted across Nigeria.
Gatekeepers News reports that the commendation was announced on Saturday during the passing-out parade of the first batch of armed forest guards in Kaduna. Representing National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu at the event, ONSA’s Director of Internal Security, Sani Sani, said the state’s training programme ranked highest among similar initiatives nationwide.
“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.
He also assured the Kaduna State Government of ONSA’s readiness to support additional training exercises whenever requested.
“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.
According to Ribadu, over 1,000 personnel completed intensive training covering weapons handling, physical fitness, combat preparedness, civil-military relations, collaboration with other security agencies, engagement with local communities and adherence to the rule of law.
He explained that the newly trained forest guards are expected to strengthen security in their communities by responding to threats from criminal groups operating within forested areas before the arrival of conventional security forces.
“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 recalled that President Bola Tinubu introduced the armed forest guard initiative on May 24, 2025, as part of efforts to recruit and train residents to safeguard forests and other ungoverned areas across the country.
He said the programme is designed to protect “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”.
The NSA further noted that Tinubu assigned ONSA the responsibility of providing strategic direction for the initiative while coordinating the training of forest guards nationwide.
Also speaking, Governor Uba Sani welcomed the recognition, describing it as evidence that Kaduna’s security interventions are producing results. He appealed for the approval of another 1,000 forest guards to further strengthen security across the state.
“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 security had improved significantly since he assumed office in 2023, adding that several areas once plagued by insecurity are now more accessible.
He identified Birnin Gwari, Giwa and Kachia among the local government areas where the situation has improved, attributing the progress to sustained cooperation between the Kaduna State Government and 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.”
