Nigeria, Dec. 28 -- The federal government has trained over 7,000 forest guards for immediate deployment across seven states as part of a nationwide security push to deny armed groups access to forests increasingly used for kidnappings, banditry and terrorism.

Rabiu Ibrahim, special assistant to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, said in a statement on Saturday that the guards completed a three-month training programme under the Presidential Forest Guards Initiative launched in May 2025 by President Bola Tinubu. He said the programme was designed as a coordinated federal and state response to worsening insecurity in forested and hard-to-reach areas.

Graduation ceremonies were held simultaneously on 27 December in Born...