According to a video on Arise News, on Tuesday June 8, 2026, a Nigerian security expert has criticised the financial allocations being made by state governments for their newly recruited forest guards, describing the pay structure as grossly inadequate and indicative of a lack of seriousness in addressing the country’s security challenges.
Chikwe Udensi, Chairman of the Institute of Security and Safety Studies at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, made the remarks during an interview on Arise News’ Newsnight programme, where he examined both the strategic and operational shortcomings of the forest guard deployments being carried out across several Nigerian states.
Udensi drew attention to a specific example from one unnamed state that had allocated approximately 300 million naira to recruit over 3,000 forest guards.
He said that a simple mathematical calculation revealed that each recruit would receive less than 100,000 naira, which he described as wholly insufficient compensation for individuals being asked to engage in security work in dangerous environments.
In his words, Udensi said, “I saw one of the states that they made available about 300 million for these forest guards. In the meantime, they have recruited over 3,000. Do they do the mathematics? You will see that it is less than about 100,000 per each recruit. It is a very serious joke,” he said.
The security scholar argued that underpaying security personnel was not merely an administrative oversight but a dangerous policy failure.
He warned that when security operatives are poorly compensated, they are at a far greater risk of being corrupted, becoming disloyal, or even turning against the state using the very tools and authority they were given to protect citizens.
Odense reinforced this point by noting that the principle of proper remuneration was fundamental to building a reliable and effective security force.