‘Nigeria close to defeating insecurity’

Peace advocate and intelligence expert, John Metchie, has expressed hope that Nigeria is on the path to ending insecurity, saying the National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, should be commended for his strategic brilliance and uncommon resolve.

Metchie described the Nigeria Forest Security Service Special Guard Initiative, championed by the NSA, as the panacea to the country’s recurring insecurity.

He argued that the missing link in Nigeria’s security architecture had always been the absence of a professional forest security system, adding that Ribadu’s deployment strategy was the most robust intervention Nigeria had seen in two decades.

He said: “Forests are always a potential breeding ground for terrorism. If you do not dominate the forests, you cannot defeat criminals. The NSA has now taken over that domain, that is why this menace will stop in a matter of months.”

On Enugu State’s move to deploy 1,000 guards, Metchie said: “If every state keys in, insecurity will be defeated faster than expected. The forest guard initiative is the game changer.”

On why the initiative would work, he said: “Nigeria’s forests cover over nine million hectares, mostly ungoverned. Bandits, herdsmen militias, terrorist cells, illegal miners, and kidnappers have used these forests for more than a decade.

“Traditional policing is urban-based; forests require specialised tactical units. While efforts are ongoing to expand Nigeria’s policing capacity, the immediate intervention needed now is robust training, equipping, and deployment of motivated men of the NSA’s Forest Security Service Special Guard.

“Ribadu’s forest guards are trained precisely for this terrain. Their training mirrors international models used against guerrilla networks. The men are tactically equipped for forest security operations.

“Drones, satellite tracking, and night-operation units are already being integrated, going by available information.

“If this momentum is sustained, the war against terror will be won in a matter of months. The training and equipping happening now have never been seen in Nigeria. Ribadu is rewriting the security narrative.”

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