By Group Captain Sadeeq Garba Shehu (rtd)
Each time a major school abduction or mass kidnapping occurs in Nigeria, or terrorists attack, the official response seems increasingly predictable : pull troops operating in one already security challenged area and send them to the area where a new challenge has surfaced…and in so doing leave that other flank open. Or announce a new security outfit. Or create a special task force. Or create a new office of Homeland Security Adviser with yet, undefined roles. n Or as we are hearing now recruit another 1,000 Forest Guards.
After the recent schoolchildren abduction in Oyo State, the FG response after some 16 days consideration, was the recruitment of 1,000 Forest Guards. Problem is Borno State in Ngoshe there is another school abduction in Ngoshe Borno State, and I am just reading this morning there are similar calls for another 1,000 for Ngoshe Borno .
This raises a simple but important question: Do we intend to recruit 1,000 Forest Guards for every kidnapping incident in Nigeria?
Nigeria experiences hundreds, if not thousands, of kidnapping incidents annually involving both individual victims and mass abductions. I do not have the exact numbers, but I know as a write this there are several live ongoing hostage/kidnap cases currently in Nigeria. Just within my own small immediate circle of acquaintances I have two cases : I know of Maj Gen Rabe Abubakar (Rtd). I also know of one of my ex -students FGC Sokoto whose wife is with bandits. If every tragic incident triggers the same response, where does it end? Five thousand guards? Ten thousand? Fifty thousand?
The issue is not that Forest Guards are unnecessary. Far from it. Properly trained, equipped, supervised, and integrated Forest Guards, with clear reporting lines and coordination with other agencies, could play a valuable role in securing ungoverned spaces and improving rural security. The real concern is whether these knee-jerk response type recruitments are part of a carefully designed national security architecture or simply a reaction to the latest tragedy.
Have we determined through a national threat assessment how many Forest Guards are actually required? What should be the optimal size of our military? How many policemen we need ? Where they should be deployed? Who commands them? How they will be trained, equipped, funded, supervised, and held accountable? How they will integrate with the military, police, civil defence, intelligence agencies, and local communities?
Or is the FGN merely responding to public outrage with high profile visits and announcements that create the impression of action?
Nigeria’s kidnapping and general security crisis is no longer an isolated problem. It is a recurring national security challenge. Recurring problems require institutional solutions, not episodic reactions.
Safe schools, intelligence-led operations, early warning systems, community policing, holistic security sector reform rural surveillance, rapid-response capability, secure communications, improved prosecution of kidnappers, and effective inter-agency coordination are all part of the solution.
Otherwise, we risk repeating the same cycle: Abduction → Public outrage → New recruitment announcement → Public attention fades → Another abduction → Another recruitment announcement.
That is not strategy. That is crisis management.
A country of Nigeria’s size cannot continue to respond to every kidnapping headline with a fresh recruitment drive or taking security personnel from one besieged area to another newly besieged area , leaving the other area exposed. . At some point, we must move from reacting to incidents , from fire brigade knee jerk approaches to building a security system capable of preventing them in the first place.
The whole security sector needs reforming. From the structures, organization , strength, equipping , training, leadership selection of the security agencies to strengthening the oversight mechanisms both at the Executive and legislative branches.
Group Captain Sadeeq Garba Shehu (rtd) is a Security & Defence Analyst/Conflict Security & Development Consult Ltd
