Amid rising insecurity across the country, hunters and farmers have called on the Federal Government to formally empower them to flush out bandits, Boko Haram insurgents, and other criminal elements hiding in forests.
The groups, including the Nigerian Forest Security Service, Professional Hunters Association of Nigeria, Agbekoya Farmers’ Society of Nigeria, and the Oodua Peoples Congress, insisted that they possessed the spiritual ability, knowledge, training, and presence in forests to combat terrorists.
There has been a resurgence of terror attacks in the country, particularly in Plateau and Benue states.
No fewer than 51 people were killed last week by gunmen in Zikke and Kakpa communities in the Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State, two weeks after deadly clashes in another part of the state left many others dead.
Prior to last week’s attack, gunmen killed at least 52 people and displaced nearly 2,000 others after several days of attacks on six villages in Plateau.
The National Emergency Management Agency said 52 people were confirmed dead, while 22 others were taken to a hospital.
Reacting to the killings, President Bola Tinubu issued a marching order to security agencies to tackle insecurity in the country.
Tinubu also ordered a complete overhaul of Nigeria’s security strategy.
But the groups said while forest-based crimes were on the rise, especially in border states, local hunters and guards remained a critical but underutilised force to stem the tide of insecurity.
Speaking with reporters, the Commandant General of the Nigerian Forest Security Service, Joshua Osatimehin, warned that failure to secure the forests would continue to pose a serious threat to national security.
Osatimehin stressed that without federal recognition and legislation, forest operatives could not take decisive actions against criminals in the bush.
He said, “We understand the forests; some of our operatives live there, but we cannot just attack the marauders without the government’s backing so that we will not be charged with genocide and other forms of illegal operations.
“As soon as the government decides to give us the necessary backup, this will give us the confidence to deploy all our arsenals – physically, spiritually, and otherwise to dislodge these people (bandits and kidnappers) because those causing this insecurity are few compared to Nigeria’s population. We can defeat them with the necessary backup and support from the government.
“If we have the logistics support and the security infrastructure at least at our level to man our forest points, these killings will drastically reduce.”
