Abuja, Nigeria – In a significant move to bolster national security and intensify the fight against economic and financial crimes, the Nigerian Forest Security Service (NFSS) has partnered with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The collaboration, announced on Thursday, April 2, 2026, aims to leverage the NFSS's extensive grassroots intelligence network to track criminal financial flows, complementing the EFCC's mandate.
NFSS Commander-General, Adewole Joshua Osatimehin, led a delegation to the EFCC's corporate headquarters in Jabi, Abuja, where he met with the Executive Chairman of the Commission, Ola Olukoyede.
Osatimehin lauded Olukoyede's impactful leadership, noting his success in prosecuting high-profile individuals who thought they were untouchable.
“We want to be part of your success story,” Osatimehin stated, emphasising the NFSS's unique position.
He highlighted their widespread presence across villages and wards, boasting village intelligence officers all over the country.
This network, he explained, could provide real-time information, transforming how law enforcement traces financial activities of bandits, Boko Haram insurgents, and other criminal elements.
“While we trace bandits, the EFCC can monitor their financial flows to ensure their arrest,” he asserted.
The Commander-General also appealed for capacity building for NFSS personnel, requesting training in investigative techniques from the EFCC's vast pool of resource persons.
Olukoyede readily granted this request, underscoring the importance of enhanced operational capabilities for the forest security agency.
Highlighting the critical need for this partnership, Osatimehin drew attention to Nigeria's immense ecological assets – 1,129 forest reserves, 29 game reserves, 17 national parks, and 417 grazing reserves, covering approximately 9.1 million hectares of the country's land mass.
“Something must be done to secure these areas,” he urged.
In response, EFCC Chairman, Olukoyede, who welcomed the NFSS's initiative, stressed the necessity for collective action in securing the nation.
“Everybody must be involved in ensuring security in Nigeria,” he remarked. He lamented that these vital forest areas have increasingly become safe havens for criminals, particularly bandits and illegal miners, whose activities often fall under the EFCC's purview.
“Our forests are virtually taken over by bandits and illegal miners, many of the heinous crimes committed by bandits are planned and executed from the forests.
“They perpetrate their crimes and retreat to the forests,” Olukoyede explained.
He affirmed the Commission's readiness to collaborate with any organisation whose mandate aligns with theirs, acknowledging the NFSS's crucial role.
“We appreciate what you are doing. Together, we can achieve more.”
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