Establishing Forest Guards Is An Error—Lawrence Alobi, Former FCT Police Commissioner

<h4>Establishing Forest Guards Is An Error<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that a former Police Commissioner in the Federal Capital Territory&comma; FCT&comma; Mr&period; Lawrence Alobi&comma; has faulted the proposed establishment of Forest Guards by the federal government to protect the country against attacks from insurgents&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to reports&comma; President Bola Tinubu&comma; days ago&comma; approved the establishment and recruitment of Forest Guards to secure Nigeria’s 1&comma;129 forests&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Government said that the newly formed unit will be trained&comma; armed&comma; and tasked with flushing out terrorists and criminal gangs using forested areas as hideouts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The initiative&comma; according to reports&comma; is a joint security effort between the federal and state governments&period; The Office of the National Security Adviser &lpar;NSA&rpar; and the Ministry of Environment have been directed to oversee its full implementation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Thousands of young Nigerians are expected to be employed as part of the new security outfit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Reaffirming his administration’s commitment to national security&comma; President Tinubu warned that no part of Nigeria’s territory would be ceded to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;saharareporters&period;com&sol;">terrorists<&sol;a> or bandits&period; He vowed that Nigeria will take back its forests&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Reacting on Thursday afternoon&comma; a retired Commissioner of Police&comma; Lawrence Alobi stated that the idea to create a new security unit was not well thought out by the government&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Speaking on Arise TV&comma; Alobi asked how the Forest Guards would be trained&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It is a good idea&period; But how are they going to be trained&quest; Who regulates the Forest Guards&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>Will the Forest Guards have the capacity to confront the armed Boko Haram&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong> If they are not well trained&comma; there will be problem because if they confront bandits&comma; the bandits will capture them and seize their arms&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>These questions need to be addressed so that the objective will be achieved&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>My suggestion is that the federal government should expand the police and the military to tackle Boko Haram&period; These are military formation that are already in existence&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Bandits are carrying sophisticated weapons&period; They are ready to die and destroy&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>Why not empower the police rather than proliferation of security agencies&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Government should increase the earnings of police and improve on technology&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><em><strong>Forest Guards is not the best option&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>If I have my way&comma; I will advise the president to expand the Police force&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;