Why Nigeria needs competent forest guards – Prof Sharubutu

The provost of Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Vom in Plateau State, Professor Garba Sharubutu, has stressed the need for the Federal Government to engage the services of competent forest guards to protect resources located in the bushes. 

The professor, in an interview in Kaduna, also stressed that there is need for peace in the villages, hence the reason for a special squad to be deployed to the bushes. “Nigeria’s land mass is not bigger than China’s, neither is it bigger than that of India but if you go there, they protect their forests,” he stated.

“We need peace in the villages so a special squad needs to be engaged to guard the bushes so that our resources in the bushes can be protected. ‎Don’t forget that there is provision for forest guards in the scheme of service of the federation whose function is to police the forests,” he said.

Said Prof Sharubutu: “I made a presentation at IG’s conference and all the para-military agencies were there. The only person that showed a level of commitment was the minister who agreed to enter into agreement with civil defense to get rangers to work but the issue is that they are not guards.”

On the kind of forest guards needed, he said, “They have to be people that can read the compass and study the whole geographical set up and are well trained and can pass information to the police to act. These are the kind of people we want as forest guards.”  

Speaking further, he stated that forest guards in India with their satellite can pick on anybody that is in the bush from every direction, adding that they have a Geographical Information System that can fight criminality.

 “These are the kind of forest guards we are talking about. If the country is too vast, why are we not using GIS system to track the criminals. Why are all the security outfits concentrated in the city, are there no lives and properties in the bush; our economic trees, mineral resources and livestock are in the bushes with nobody to protect them,” he stated.

He said: “If we have forest guards in this country, there will be no way Boko Haram will stay in Sambisa forest for 10 years digging tunnels without been noticed.”