Disturbed by the incessant attacks on farming communities across the states by kidnappers and bandits, especially in the North, the federal government came up with a novel idea of setting up the Agro Rangers Corps in 2016 as a deliberate strategy to stem the dangerous tide. The initiative was expected to forestall the serial attacks on farms and boost farmers’ confidence to work without any fear of being raided as well as protect their investments. Consequently, the government picked the first batch of 3,000 personnel for special training by the Nigerian Army in weapon handling after which the unit was domiciled in the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Credit must go to the former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and his Interior Ministry counterpart, Major-Gen Abdurahment Dambazzau (retd), who initiated the idea. The establishment of the Agro Rangers unit followed the recommendations of a committee headed by the director, Joint Services, in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Noah Auta, which was inaugurated mid-2016 to deliberate on the operational modalities of the special unit and submit recommendations.
However, about nine years down the road, the execution of the programme seemed to have been carried out perfunctorily and now appeared to suffer neglect if not abandonment. The Agro Rangers unit seems to have become the latest victim of the Nigerian factor… tall in ideas but dwarfish in implementation. It is believed in several quarters that had the scheme got the right backing of the government that set it up, it would by now not only have grown in personnel but also achieved its objectives.
In other climes, elite units are set up to tackle peculiar problems such as the one that poses existential threats to our food security. Such was the main reason the Agro Rangers Corps came into being. Today, many farming communities across the states of the North in particular are reeling under the onslaughts by criminal gangs like kidnappers, bandits and terrorists. The recent serial attacks on some communities in Plateau and Benue states where hundreds of locals have been killed, maimed and chased out of their ancestral homes should be of serious concern to the government. Happening especially at the time framers should be warming up for this year’s farming season should be of more serious concern.
In a situation where farm investments worth billions of naira have been lost to the nefarious activities of kidnappers and bandits, we wonder which farmers would have the courage to head for the farms when security of their lives is not guaranteed. The implications of these ugly developments are that the nation will continue to suffer huge food shortage, resulting in high costs where the commodities are even available. However, given the pervasive insecurity in the land, we still believe that the Agro Rangers Scheme should be revisited and fully operationalised to achieve its core objective.
According to available records, close to 2,000 farmers have either been taken out during farmers/herders clashes across the states or killed by bandits and kidnappers between 2020 and 2024. This is a huge loss to a nation endowed with massive arable and cultivatable lands. Those who are relatively free to access their farms do so at a price they are forced to pay to the marauding criminals who, sadly, have established parallel authorities in the domains they control.
Blueprint urges the government to work assiduously towards overhauling its security architecture among which the much anticipated establishment of state police, a special unit such as the Agro Rangers Corps will still be a critical component in securing the farming communities across the states of the federation. The federal government needs to further think outside the box. The Agro Rangers Scheme, in our view, still holds solution to the intractable challenges faced by our farmers. The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) from where the personnel of the scheme are drawn was established as a security outfit with the mandate to protect lives and properties of Nigerians, inclusive of farmers and their investments, as well as safeguard critical national assets and infrastructure. Given the massive farm space across the country, even the total strength of the NSCDC put at 45,000 is grossly inadequate to secure our farmers, their farmlands and investments freely overrun by these criminal elements.
While we anticipate the establishment of the state police, the Agro Rangers Corps should form a critical component of our security architecture. It was a proactive initiative that should be brought back to the front burner and given the needed push it requires to achieve a safe and secure environment for our farming communities and as a sine qua non for the much-touted food security we all crave for. The corps should be equipped with modern technology such as drones to secure the farm space which will cast a wet blanket on the nefarious activities of the criminal gangs.
It is gratifying to note the assurance given by President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu that the forests and ungoverned spaces in the country will be taken back from these vermin. He gave the assurance during his recent two-day working visit to Katsina state. We believe that this can be achieved if forest guards are recruited and restored to these territories occupied by terrorists and bandits from where they launch their deadly attacks on innocent Nigerians. No amount of resources should be considered too much to sink into ensuring security of lives, welfare and properties of Nigerian citizens which is the primary responsibility of government as enshrined in section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).