President Bola Tinubu has approved massive recruitment of youth for the establishment of forest guards to secure and flush out terrorists and bandits from forests across the country.

Sunday Dare, presidential spokesperson, in a statement on Wednesday, announced Mr. Tinubu ordered the recruitment of forest guards “to secure the 1,129 forests in the country.”

“The President directed that the forest guards are to be well trained and armed to perform their duties, which is essentially to flush out terrorists and criminal gangs hiding inside the forests for criminal activities,” Mr Dare said.

He added, “Thousands of young Nigerians are expected to be employed as personnel of the outfit.”

This initiative, according to Mr Dare, is a collaborative effort between the states and the federal government aimed at tackling insecurity in the country.

“This recruitment is a security collaborative effort between the federal and state governments. The office of the NSA and the Ministry of Environment have been directed to take charge and ensure full implementation,” Mr Dare said.

This comes amid a resurgence of Boko Haram and bandit raids on communities in the North-East and North-Central in recent times.