By Collins Yakubu-Hammer

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, says the Federal Government is set to weed out terrorists and criminal elements from forests across the country.

Idris  said this at the End of Year Media Conference in Abuja on Monday.

He explained that in the area of security, 2025 saw the presidential declaration of a nationwide security emergency.

According to him, that emergency will in the months ahead translate into massive recruitment into the Armed Forces and Police Force.

“And also, there will be the deployment of trained and equipped Forest Guards to secure our forests and other vulnerable locations.

“What we use to have in the past is that, there are dark spots within our forests that are largely unmanned and is creating a safe heaven for these terrorists and criminal elements.

“With this kind of recruitment and declaration by Mr President, there will be no hiding place for all these criminals and terrorist hiding again in our forests.

“We have also established in 2025, a new national counterterrorism doctrine that is anchored on four critical pillars; unified command, intelligence, community stability, and counter insurgency,” Idris said.

He added that in 2025, one of the most international wanted criminal, the ISWAP head residing in Nigeria was captured through the coordination of the Nigerian security agencies and would soon appear in court.

“Let me be clear about what this means that henceforth, any armed group that kidnaps our children, attacks our farmers, or terrorises our communities is officially classified and will be dealt with as a terrorist organization.

“The era of ambiguous nomenclature is over,” Idris stressed.

NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA