Governor Uba Sani has moved a notch further on Saturday by mobilizing 1,000 newly trained Kaduna Forest Guards to high-risk border zones and forest reserves, in a joint security push with the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Department of State Services to flush out bandits and kidnappers from the state’s hinterlands.
The guards passed out at the DSS Development Centre in Afaka after a training programme initiated by the Kaduna State Government and conducted in strategic partnership with the ONSA and DSS, at an elaborate ceremony presided over by the governor.
Drawn from communities in security flashpoints, the personnel will serve as frontline intelligence gatherers and first responders. Their mandate is to maintain continuous surveillance in dense forest corridors previously exploited as hideouts by armed groups.
According to administration, the forest guards will operate alongside the Military, Nigeria Police Force, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to provide real-time terrain intelligence and deny criminal groups operational safe havens.
The deployment builds on the administration’s broader security strategy which officials say has restored normalcy to several volatile local government areas.
It would be recalled that sustained joint operations have earlier led to the reopening of rural markets, resumption of activities in schools and health facilities, and the return of farmers to their fields.
Officials confirmed the newly-trained forest guards will be deployed immediately.
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