By Lawrence Zongo | The Nigeria Times
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s approval of a new national forest guard initiative has raised legal, policy, and human rights questions, particularly among legal professionals and civil society groups monitoring security reform in Nigeria. With over 130,000 armed operatives proposed for deployment across the country’s 1,129 forest reserves, the initiative aims to reclaim areas that have become strongholds for armed groups, including terrorists, kidnappers, and bandits.
Barrister Redzie Jugo, a legal practitioner from Nigeria’s Middle Belt, offered a detailed legal and policy analysis of the initiative in an article reviewed by TruthNigeria. Jugo, who has written extensively on firearms legislation and constitutional law, described the move as a necessary step in addressing persistent insecurity in forested regions but cautioned that without legal clarity and human rights safeguards, the initiative could face major challenges.
National Policy, Local Implications
Under the proposed plan, the forest guards will operate under the supervision of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the Federal Ministry of Environment. The federal government has called on state governments to join in implementing the initiative, including setting up state-level legal frameworks for recruitment, training, and deployment.
Jugo emphasized that forest reserves, especially across the North Central and Middle Belt regions, have long been unmonitored zones, exploited by armed groups. According to a 2025 Amnesty International Nigeria, over 10,000 people have been killed in Nigeria since President Tinubu took power in 2023, many of which were launched from forest hideouts. The International Crisis Group has also warned that criminal exploitation of forested areas has expanded in recent years due to limited government presence and poor coordination between security forces.
“This policy could potentially fill a major vacuum,” Jugo said. “But it must be grounded in a strong legal framework. Otherwise, it risks becoming another layer of unregulated force in an already congested security space.”
Overlapping Jurisdictions and Legal Ambiguities
One of the key concerns raised by legal experts is the risk of overlap and conflict with existing security agencies such as the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). Without clear laws defining operational mandates and jurisdictions, accountability could be compromised.
In 2021, a study by the CLEEN Foundation found that poor coordination among Nigeria’s over a dozen federal and state-level security forces has led to delays in response, wrongful arrests, and lack of prosecution in many conflict-affected regions. Legal clarity, Jugo argued, is essential for the forest guard program to function effectively.
“This initiative must not add to confusion or duplication,” he said. “The law must spell out the command structure, limits of authority, and procedures for inter-agency cooperation.”
Human Rights Concerns and Rules of Engagement
Another pressing issue is the rules of engagement for this newly armed force. Nigeria has been repeatedly criticized for human rights violations by security forces. In 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Committee urged Nigeria to improve its security personnel’s adherence to international human rights standards, citing a pattern of extrajudicial killings and excessive force.
Jugo stressed the need for human rights training to be embedded in the forest guard program.
“It is not enough to arm and deploy. Guards must be trained not just in security tactics, but in the legal limits of force, due process, and respect for civilian rights,” he said.
Similar calls have been echoed by local and international NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, which has warned that new security formations must avoid repeating the documented abuses of past paramilitary operations.
The Firearms Act: Legal Bottlenecks in Arming State Forces
Jugo’s analysis also pointed to Nigeria’s existing Firearms Act (Cap F28, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004) as a potential stumbling block. Despite provisions that theoretically allow civilian and state entities to bear arms under certain conditions, critics argue that the Act is outdated and difficult to implement fairly.
“The Act has practically disarmed law-abiding citizens while failing to control the proliferation of illegal weapons,” Jugo wrote in a previous article. “Without reform, forest guards may find themselves unable to acquire the arms they are mandated to carry.”
Data from the Small Arms Survey (2021) estimated that over 6 million illegal firearms are in civilian hands in Nigeria, compared to only 586,000 in the possession of security agencies. This imbalance raises concerns over whether forest guards will be adequately equipped to confront heavily armed groups.
Jugo proposed three legal solutions:
A streamlined licensing process for state-sanctioned security outfits.
Firepower parity provisions to ensure guards are not outgunned.
Legal accountability structures that protect law-abiding guards while penalizing abuse.
Lessons from Abroad: International Comparisons
Jugo compared the Nigerian initiative to similar efforts in other regions, such as armed park rangers in Central and East Africa, who combat illegal poaching and insurgencies in forested areas. These units operate under strict legal mandates with oversight mechanisms.
He also cited international law enforcement models where forest security units work within multi-agency legal frameworks, ensuring clear mandates, information sharing, and operational coordination. Training, he said, must mirror these models, emphasizing ethics and legal discipline alongside tactical skills.
Regional Responsibility and State Leadership
In the Middle Belt, where forest-based attacks have been particularly devastating, state governments have a significant role to play in the success or failure of this initiative. Jugo called for swift legal action at the state level to support the federal framework.
That includes creating new legislation or amending existing state laws to authorize recruitment and deployment, committing budgetary resources, and signing formal agreements with neighboring states for cross-boundary cooperation.
“States must treat this as a priority,” he said. “They are constitutionally responsible for the safety of their citizens.”
Outlook and Ongoing Debates
So far, there has been no official timetable for full deployment of the forest guard initiative, and legal analysts say the next few months will be critical in determining whether the program becomes operational — or gets mired in legal confusion.
A 2024 report by the Nigerian Bar Association’s Committee on Law and Security recommended urgent legislative updates to align security policies with constitutional protections and modern security realities. The committee noted that while innovative policies like the forest guard initiative may be promising, they can fail if implemented without legal reform.
In a country where many forested regions remain under de facto control of armed groups, the stakes are high.
