The Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) has formally collapsed into the Nigerian Hunters and Forest Security Service, NHFSS.

At a joint press conference which took place Tuesday at the Abuja headquarters of the NHFSS, Commander General of the Service, Dr. Wole Joshua Osatimehin, said it was a thing of joy and great benefit to Nigeria that the CJTF on its own decided to collapse its national, state and local government structures into the Hunters Service, adding that their coming would boost the operational capacity of the NHFSS.

Osatimehin said that the NHFSS has 43,386 officers and men and announced that 200 cadets recruited by the Potiskum Local Government in Yobe State, passed out of training in the state last week Saturday.

On his part, the National Corodinator of the CJTF, Amb Nwachukwu Adah disclosed that CJTF was originally founded by Vice President Kashim Shetimma when he was then governor of Borno state which was meant to fight terrorism at that time.

Nwachukwu Adah said however that he single-handedly established CJTF first in his home state Rivers and went on to establish it in Abuja and all other states across the country.

He stated that the decision to merge with the NHFSS was taken after coming to the realisation that they have been operating and blindly without formal incorporation and considering the well organised structure of the Nigerian Hunters and Forest Security Service as a legally registered organization.

According to Nwachukwu Adah, there are over 10,000 members of the CJTF across the 36 states and the FCT and stated that by collapsing into the NHFSS, the CJTF is no longer in existence.

He also said that the fact that the National Assembly has passed the NHFSS Bill into law is an indication that the government has partly recognised the Hunters Service.

He therefore directed officers and men of the CJTF to report to the office of the NHFSS in surrender their Identity Cards, in order to be verified and absorbed into the Hunters Service.

Responding to questions from newsmen, the Commander General of the NHFSS, Dr. Osatimehin assured officers and men of the defunct CJTF of fairness and equity and dismissed the idea of conflict as a result of the absorption.

He said they would be absorbed into the Hunters Service through a thorough verification process and ranked according to their qualifications and experience.

According to Osatimehin stated that a matching order would be issued immediately to all state commands of NHFSS to absorb the former CJTF members and subject them to various trainings in order to prepare them for service to Nigeria, in terms of fighting crimes within the forests in the country.

“We have our protocol. We have been trained by the Police, the Army and other security organisations on different areas of security, including operational discipline, conduct and leadership hierarchy.

“We have been trained and we are a disciplined organization. As soon as you join the NHFSS, we give you our operational guideline which would guide you in terms of conduct and discipline. As personnel of the NHFSS, you must obey the laws of Nigeria. You must obey the rule of law and operational guideline, especially as it concerns curbing crimes committed within the forests.”

Dr. Osatimehin commended Commend Nigeria Police, the Army, DSS and other security agencies for accepting the Hunters Service and thanked traditional rulers across for adding their royal voices to the call for President Bola Tinubu to sign the NHFSS Bill into law.