Tinubu to proceed with the creation of well-armed state police forces and forest rangers

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has promised to arm several new security outfits over the coming years including members of state police forces and forest rangers as part of a renewed drive to combat the growing insecurity across Nigeria.

Last month, President Donald Trump declared that he has asked his generals to draw up plans regarding how to attack Nigeria in response to the incessant attacks on Christians by Islamic terrorists. He accused the Nigerian government of not doing enough to address the situation, standing by as Christians were being massacred across the north of the country.

Nigeria is currently suffering from the effects of chronic insecurity as Boko Haram, the Islamic State of the West African Province, armed bandits and kidnappers have turned large swathes of the north of the country into no-go areas. However, in all these areas, both Christians Muslims are affected by the reign of terror, as the authorities are overwhelmed by the scale of the problem.

As the debate raged, the House of Representatives Sub-committee on Africa held public meetings to see if there is any truth to the fact that there is religious persecution of Christians in Nigeria. Among other things, it looked at President Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), which if ratified by the Senate, would allow the US to impose sanctions on Nigerian officials found complicit in religious persecution and limit certain forms of bilateral assistance.

To get a better understanding of the matter, a US official delegation visited Nigeria earlier this month and held meetings with government officials led by the national security adviser Nuhu Ribadu. Hon Riley Moore, the Congressman representing West Virginia’s Second District, who was part of the delegation, said the meeting was productive and positive.

It now appears that one of the agreements reached at the meeting was to create new security outfits as the Nigeria Police Force is currently totally overwhelmed with the situation. Speaking at the ruling All Progressives Congress's national executive committee meeting yesterday, President Tinubu confirmed that operatives of the proposed state police would be well armed.

He also revealed plans to establish forest rangers, stating that they will also be equipped with arms to end terrorism and banditry in Nigeria. Although many Nigerians remain sceptical about the effectiveness of the state police owing to possible abuse by state governors, the National Assembly has also thrown its weight behind the establishment of the local force.

President Tinubu said: “We are going for state police and we will do forest rangers too. We will arm them. We will defeat those terrorists and bandits, we must do that."

Over the last month, President Tinubu has had to declare a nationwide state of emergency ordering the security forces to immediately expand recruitment and deploy thousands of additional personnel in response to the incessant spate of kidnappings over the last few weeks. In addition, the government has had to close all 41 unity schools across the country to forestall any further abductions.

During the course of November, there was a collapse in security across northern Nigeria with 24 pupils kidnapped from Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi State on November 17. Then, armed gunmen stormed St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, in Niger State, abducting over 300 pupils and 12 teachers and 38 persons were abducted during an attack on Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku in Kwara State.