The Northern Christian Youth Professionals has warned that the growing emergence of community self-defence groups across Nigeria reflects deepening security failures and could further fragment the country’s internal security architecture if urgent reforms are not implemented.
In a statement issued on Monday and signed by its Chairman, Isaac Abrak, the group described the nation as approaching a “security turning point,” where many communities now feel compelled to organise local defence structures due to persistent attacks and the inability of existing security operations to maintain lasting territorial control in forest regions.
The organisation commended the Defence Headquarters and the Armed Forces for sustained offensives against terrorists and bandits operating within forest corridors across the country. However, it argued that military gains have repeatedly been weakened by the absence of permanent stabilisation and holding mechanisms following clearance operations.
According to the group, one of the major weaknesses in Nigeria’s anti-terror operations is the recurring cycle in which armed groups are dislodged from forests only to regroup and resume attacks after security forces withdraw.
NCYP said the pattern has remained prevalent across the North-East, North-West and North-Central regions, while signs of similar security threats are gradually emerging in parts of the South-West following attacks linked to rural settlements and schools.
“The insecurity is no longer static; it is adapting geographically and exploiting governance gaps across forest territories,” the statement noted.
The group warned that worsening insecurity has driven many communities to increasingly depend on vigilante networks, hunters’ associations and informal defence groups for protection, describing the development as understandable but potentially dangerous without proper national coordination.
Drawing comparisons with international conflict zones, NCYP referenced Iraq’s Sahwa (Awakening) Councils, where local Sunni communities mobilised against Al-Qaeda between 2005 and 2008, noting that the initiative only succeeded because it was later integrated into formal state security frameworks.
It also cited the experiences of Burkina Faso and Mali, warning that unregulated civilian armed groups often create additional governance and security complications when they operate outside central command structures.
The organisation, however, distinguished informal vigilante formations from the Western Nigeria Security Network, also known as Amotekun, which operates under state-backed legal and institutional frameworks.
According to NCYP, the major concern lies in the unchecked growth of loosely coordinated armed groups operating independently across rural communities and forest belts.
The statement identified several forest corridors allegedly exploited by criminal gangs and armed groups, including the Rugu forest belt spanning Katsina, Kaduna and Zamfara states, as well as the Birnin Gwari, Kamuku and Kuyambana forest axes.
It also highlighted Plateau State’s rural forest corridors linking Bokkos, Riyom, Bassa and Wase to neighbouring Nasarawa, Benue, Kaduna and Bauchi states, warning that weak inter-state security coordination continues to provide escape routes and regrouping opportunities for armed elements.
NCYP further argued that the ongoing pilot Forest Guard programme being implemented in selected states would remain inadequate without nationwide expansion.
While applauding the recruitment of Forest Guards in Plateau State and other pilot locations, the group warned that isolated deployments could simply force criminal groups into neighbouring unprotected forests.
“In such situations, security pressure in one state only displaces armed groups into adjoining territories where they regroup and return,” the statement added.
The organisation recalled how Boko Haram insurgents previously exploited porous border regions linking Nigeria with Niger, Chad and Cameroon to evade military pressure before relaunching attacks, insisting that similar dynamics now threaten internal forest security operations.
NCYP therefore called on the Federal Government, the Defence Headquarters, the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Homeland Security to urgently transform the current Forest Guard pilot initiative into a nationwide security framework.
The pilot programme is presently operational in Adamawa, Borno, Kebbi, Kwara, Niger, Sokoto and Yobe states.
According to the group, expanding the Forest Guard structure nationwide would provide the military with a territorial holding force capable of securing cleared forests, improving intelligence gathering and strengthening local surveillance operations.
It maintained that the Armed Forces are currently overstretched by simultaneous operations against insurgency, banditry, separatist violence, militancy and communal conflicts across multiple regions of the country.
“A nationwide Forest Guard framework would not replace the military, but would complement it by maintaining territorial control after clearance operations,” the statement said.
NCYP warned that failure to urgently establish a coordinated national forest security structure could result in the emergence of competing local security authorities operating with differing loyalties and without unified command oversight.
“The cost of delay will not be theoretical; it will be operational, structural and increasingly difficult to reverse,” the group warned.
