The Commander General (CG) of the Nigerian Hunters and Forest Security Service, NHFSS, Dr. Wole Joshua Osatimehin, has updated the Honourable Minister for Environment and Ecological Management, Alhaji Balarabe Abbas Lawal, on the activities of the Service, saying that the major mandate of the organization is to protect the forests from being used by unscrupulous elements to commit crimes and criminalities.

Osatimehin stated this recently during a courtesy visit to the Minister in his office and said contrary to misconceptions in some quarters, operatives of the Service are not involved in the traditional hunting and killing of animals but committed to the protection and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem which the criminals also destroy in their nefarious activities.

Dr. Osatimehin also informed Minister Abbas Lawal that the name of the organization has been changed from Nigerian Hunters and Forest Security Service (NHFSS) to Nigerian Forest Security Service (NFSS), in compliance with the letters of the Bill being tidied up by the national assembly, adding that Section 24, subsection 17 of the Bill directed that all traditional hunter bodies are to be subsumed into the Nigerian Forest Security Service. He said that the physical paraphernalia of the Service would be corrected after the Bill has been passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the President.

The Commander General told the Minister that Security in Nigeria’s forest and other ungoverned areas, is very crucial to achieving economic and social gains that abound in the environment, especially in the forested areas of the country.

He said the Service was set up to play complimentary role, alongside the Police, the Military, Office of the NSA and other major security organizations in hunting down criminals through intelligence gathering and sharing as well as physical confrontation of criminal elements with the aim of preventing them from using the forests in the country as safe havens to perpetuate all kinds of crimes, including terrorism, kidnapping, banditry and separatism, among others.

He said though the foundation membership of the group was from hunters, the Service has migrated from traditional hunting to the identifying, pursuit and arrest of criminals operating from and within the forests, adding that their grassroots spread, robust and fearless capabilities are added advantage in carrying out their duties and operations in the difficult forest areas.

He told the Minister that about 12.2% of Nigeria’s geographical landmass, which is about 11,089,000 hectares of land, is forested. Of this space, he observed that 2.9% or about 326,000 hectares is classified as primary forest, which he averred is the most biodiverse form of forest.

He therefore, stressed that Nigeria forested area is vast and rich enough to support economic growth through agriculture, tourism, mining and solid minerals, as well as other environmental activities that can boost Gross Domestic Products, adding that the huge economic gains will accrue to the nation through dedicated and efficient security in the forested areas of Nigeria.

Osatimehin emphasized that with the presence of dedicated security service in the forest, environmentally harmful activities like illegal logging of trees, poaching of animals, bush burning and other negative activities that have destabilized the natural equilibrium of the environment would also be curtailed and assured that Nigeria will be better place among the comity of nations that have set up relevant structures for environmental sustainability to reduce global warming in line with global climate change protocols.

Speaking while welcoming the Commander General and his team, the Honourable Minister, Alhaji Balarabe Abbas Lawal, expressed readiness to support the vision of the management of Nigerian Forest Security Service, saying he had always opposed anything that has to do with killing of animals and other creatures living in their natural habitats through gaming, poaching and other activities that have caused the depletion of various natural species of the forest.

He agreed with the NFSS management team that Nigeria needs additional security body that is specifically dedicated to fighting crimes and criminalities in the forested areas and praised the vision of the Senate and the House of Representatives in changing the name to Nigeria Forest and Security Service as according to him, securing the forest would help to protect the country’s ecosystem as well as conserve the environment.