By Amah A. Amah, Editor-in-Chief, African Writers’ Centre (AWC)
Nigeria cannot afford not to have forest guards through transition of Nigerian Hunter and Forest Security Service (NHFSS) into a National Security Service – Nigeria Forest Guards Services (NFGS). This was the position of Amb. Dr. Johnny Metchie, DCG Intelligence of the NHFSS, who also stated that this will serve as a potent panacea to kidnapping, banditry, separatism and other crimes perpetuated through forest, bushes and related ungoverned territories, which are militating against economic development of the country.
Metchie stated that apart from many other losses to Nigeria too numerous to count, each time people are kidnapped and taken into the bushes, the nation continues to lose billions of naira and Forex from possible FDI due to bad image and negative reputation caused by kidnaping, banditry, separatism, extremism and related crimes. He decried a situation where insecurity that has become rampant in Nigeria due to the unmanned, ungoverned territories has led to many companies leaving the country.
DCG Metchie commended the Federal Government of Nigeria for the efforts committed to add greater impetus to the fight against insecurity in Nigeria, especially considering Government’s moves to establish new Security Agencies in the country. DCG Metchie was speaking on the heels of a recent statement credited to Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) at the public hearing on the Bill to establish the Nigeria Mines Ranger Service in Abuja.
The Civil Defense boss was of the view that the Federal Government should use funds that could be applied for establishment of new Security outfits to fund the NSCDC. While generally, the view of the Civil Defense CG has been seen as myopic, self-centeredness and not for overall security wellbeing of the nation, the NHFSS DCG expressed surprised that one, who is overwhelmed by a task does not appear to want to be helped or assisted to execute the task.
He recalled the question posed to the NSCDC CG during the public hearing by Distinguished Senator Garba Musa Maidoki, representing Kebbi South Senatorial District, on whether the Corps has done a good job as assigned to it in security of the nation and the answer that chorused was Nooooo!!! from the public at the National Assembly hearing.
Amb. Metchie urged the NSCDC CG to learn from the wise response and counsel by the Distinguished Senator that at this age and critical time in the history of our country, we should rise above personal sentiments, selfishness and aggrandizement to take decisions that will be for the interest of the nation and the nation only. Averring that there is strong need for more hands to come into the security architecture of the nation, the Distinguished Senator worried that he cannot visit his community without having butterflies in his stomach, as he could be kidnapped any moment.
This translates to the fact that more hands must be deployed. Metchie, therefore stated that we should not sacrifice our motivation and opportunities to bring more hands on deck and to work to curb insecurity in Nigeria at the altar of personal interest and material gains.
Opinion leaders have long identified as a major challenge in combating insecurity in Nigeria, the huge ungoverned territories, which are mostly in the forests, bushes, deserts, as well as in creeks, swampy areas and other difficult terrains that are unmanned due to inadequate capacity. “This is the capacity and gap we as Forest Guards want to fill,” said Metchie.
According to DCG Metchie, Nigeria Forest Guards Services, which Nigerian Hunter and Forest Security Service (NHFSS) is transitioning to, is the missing link, gap and lacuna in the Nigeria’s security architecture, which unless incorporated into national security, the challenges will continue to ache Nigeria because of the security vulnerability in bushes, forests and other ungoverned areas.
Metchie is of the view that with the planned metamorphosis of the NHFSS to Nigeria Forest Guard Service, all ungoverned territories in Nigeria will fall totally into the sovereign control of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
He was of the strong position that the way the NHFSS is structured is such that operatives exist at the grassroots among the people and work in very familiar terrain, be it bushes, forests, deserts, creeks, etcetera, “we have personnel who have traditionally operated in these areas for most parts of their lives, and they are consistently training and transferring the formal and traditional skills of surviving and taking control of these difficult terrains to younger recruits and officers,” said Metchie.
“Why The Nigeria Forest Guard is the best approach to solving Nigeria’s security problem is that the establishment will ensure that all ungoverned territories and spaces in the country will be manned and brought under firm sovereign control of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“This will seamlessly happen when the Nigerian Hunter and Forest Security Service (NHFSS) become a full-fledged Security Organ of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. NHFSS has the Management, Administrative and Operations network that are well-structured in line with modern security architecture for global best national security operations and services in ungoverned, unmanned difficult terrains.
“The familiarity of the environment and penetration of our officers and men to the deepest hinterlands in forest and bushes, as well as creeks, deserts and other ungoverned areas of the country are what Nigeria need to rout out criminals from these areas.
“With requisite Federal backing and provision of necessary security gadgets, our men will further leverage on familiarity of terrain, our large numerical strength, experience and grassroots spread to man all territories, including the very difficult terrains.
“The primary and earliest mandate of the NHFSS is to support the Nigeria Police and other Security Agencies to protect lives and properties in the ungoverned areas, especially Forests and Bushes, Creeks and Desert areas in Nigeria. We have, over the years, deployed a lot of resources and efforts to optimize our capacity to work with other security operatives to detect and prevent forest crimes and insecurity in these ungoverned territories through intelligence sharing and physical interventions.
“We are committed and determined to continue to improve the quality and performance of our men and officers, many of whom are currently engaged in the protection of various public safety and sensitive facilities within various communities, especially in bushes, forest and other difficult or remote hinterlands in Nigeria.
“The NHFSS has good relationship and strong collaboration with, not just the Nigeria Police Force, but also the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, who we often train with on global best practices in handling safety and security matters in bushes, forests and other ungoverned areas in Nigeria,” the NHFSS DCG Intelligence stated.
Reacting to the issue of funding, the DCG Metchie averred that empirical analysis conducted by his team has revealed that the revenue accruable to the Federal Government in various sectors linked to Forests, Creeks, Deserts and other currently ungoverned spaces would increase by over 100% once the NHFSS is incorporated in the security architecture of the Federal Government to fill the gap of protecting these areas and maintaining the sovereignty of the nation.
DCG Metchie was emphatic in stressing that there are enormous economic resources embedded and hidden in these ungoverned territories, which the Federal Government will optimally tap into by giving the NHFSS the much-needed backing to collaborate with other Security Agencies to secure these areas.
It had been observed that private, non-state actors, including foreigners are consistently engaging in economic sabotage, exploring and exploiting economic resources of the nation in these ungoverned spaces without any challenge or restriction by security of the nation because these areas are ungoverned. Nigeria is estimated to lose billions of dollars annually from these economic crimes and associated capital flights.
It has further been noted that the establishment of the Nigeria Forest Guard Services will be a good approach for the Federal Government to take huge employments opportunities to the deepest parts of the communities across the length and breadth of the country for men, women and youths of Nigeria.
Affirming that no one knows the forests and other difficult, ungoverned territories like officers and men of the NHFSS, DCG Metchie assured the Federal Government that collaborating with the Police, Civil Defense and other network of security architecture in the country, the NHFSS would smoke out and rout criminals and non-state actors hiding in these spaces and perpetuating crime.
By decimating the criminals and taking charge of these presently ungoverned territories, it becomes easy for all legitimate economic activities in these areas to go on uninterrupted and revenue nets of the Government will expand. Furthermore, issues of kidnapping and related crimes would be drastically reduced, as there will be no hiding places for the criminals anymore.
While commending The Police, DSS and other Armed Forces, as well as the Civil Defense that he stated the NHFSS has enjoyed healthy collaboration and good working relationship with, DCG Metchie assured the NSCDC boss that the skies are quite spacious for all the birds of the world to fly without their wings obstructing one another. Moreover, the NHFSS DCG stated that the Hunters have been trained to complement the existing security architecture to optimize overall national security capabilities and not to compete with anybody.
Extolling the virtues of the Commander-General of the NHFSS, Amb. Dr. Joshua Osatimehin and other officers, the DCG Intelligence disclosed that his CG has ensured that rare cooperation exists between the Service and other uniform agencies in the country in areas of intelligence sharing and penetration of difficult hinterlands.
He reiterated that the NHFSS is the missing link, which once injected into the security architecture of Nigeria, the existing problems and challenges, including the spike in insecurity in Nigeria will become history. The DCG Intelligence stated that NHFSS has done a lot with limited resources to protect the vast geographical areas in our country that are ungoverned, which are mainly forests, bushes and related rough terrains in Nigeria, but needs the Federal Government to confer on it, the status of a national Security Service.
“Criminal elements, including armed robbers, kidnappers, bandits, militants and separatist groups converging, breeding and unleashing mayhem on our country and citizens by seizing parts of our national territory must be flushed out.
“These problems have persisted because of the missing link and lacuna in guarding vast ungoverned areas, especially forests and bushes, which The NHFSS has been designed and structured to secure based on the vision to actualize a peaceful, productive and functional forest environment for production of food, oil & gas, solid minerals and other economic activities for nation building,” said DCG Metchie, who further stated that NHFSS activities include:
“Reducing opportunities for crime through increasing crime prevention awareness campaigns; Developing neighbourhood crime prevention programmes; Assisting the Police and other Security Agencies in intelligence sharing, as well as, identifying and finding solutions to prevalent crimes.”
Metchie added that officers and men of the NHFSS are well trained in “Detecting and preventing crime and criminalities in Nigeria’s forests and bushes; Promoting effective communication with the Police and other Security Agencies through prompt reporting of suspicious and criminal activities to the Police and other Security Agencies, as well as direct physical intervention and engagement to curb crime. Helping in guarding forests and bushes for protection of lives and properties; also ensuring the Safety and Security of all persons in our Communities are what we know how best to do.”
Stating that the officers and men do not work in isolation, the DCG Intelligence affirmed that they achieve safe and secured bushes and forests through broad-based synergy and collaborations to curb crime and criminalities in Nigeria’s forests and bushes that have become safe havens for all kinds of criminals.
The Intelligence egghead of the NHFSS also disclosed that during the last End Bad Governance protest across Nigeria, the officers and men of the NHFSS were on the frontline and specifically guarded many sensitive Government facilities and protected them from arsonists and vandals.
Speaking on specific approaches and strategies, DCG Metchie stated that “to ensure efficient protection of forests and bushes in Nigeria to circumvent breeding of criminals in these ungoverned spaces, the NHFSS is continuously building capacity to deploy more and more well-trained and experienced officers to guard forests and bushes in areas of deep familiarity of terrain and knowledge of criminal elements and behaviour.
“We are known for exploits in advancing potent community and traditional methods to rid forest and bushes of crimes and criminality to give necessary support to other security agencies in the country in crime fighting, especially in remote hinterlands.
“Our men are trained in the areas of securing mineral and other natural resources’ fields in the forests, bushes and other difficult terrains in Nigeria, while collaborating with relevant MDAs to ensuring the maintenance of balance in forest ecosystem and biodiversity of fauna and flora.
“Our men are passionate in maintaining secured environment for farming and other agricultural and legitimate economic activities in the bushes and forests. Also, guarding and protecting oil pipelines and installations running through our vast bushes and forests to help in keeping them safe and secure remains a national call to duty for our men”, Metchie outlined.
He further hinted that with limited resources, officers and men of the NHFSS have succeeded several times in aborting and truncating criminal activities in bushes and forests in Nigeria by applying modern hardware and technology, as well as by cultural and traditional methods
The DCG Intelligence stressed that the NHFSS needs the Legislative and Executive backing to intensify and optimize the sensitive job of forest guard and security of our bushes, including other tough ungoverned territories in Nigeria. “Based on our robust structure that is very intense in the deepest parts of villages and communities in Nigeria, we have the spatial spread, numerical strength, dedication and commitment, familiarity of the terrains, experience, as well as cultural and traditional capacity to engage and decimate all criminal elements and rout them out of our forests and bushes across the country.”
Concluding, DCG Metchie affirmed his belief that “the uncommon partnership and collaboration currently existing between the Executive and the National Assembly will fill the gap the National Security Architecture needs and provide the missing link for total security of every part of the nation. This, he said will be achieved by incorporating Hunters as part of national security structure of the country.
“NHFSS, on our part, is a ready, prepared and committed as an Organisation that, with the support of Legislation, will man all ungoverned spaces in Nigeria and help to restore security and order. This will curb kidnapping, banditry, extremist and separatist activities and other crimes and impact positively on food production, crude oil output, curbing of illegal mining and increase in contribution of solid minerals and other sectors to the national GDP, as well as other ripple effects that will translate to sustainability in all spheres of the economy and our national life, said DCG Metchie.
