For years, armed groups have exploited Nigeria’s vast forests as strategic sanctuaries, using the dense terrain to evade security forces, stockpile weapons and establish operational bases across the country.
Among the most notorious is the Sambisa Forest, a sprawling expanse covering roughly 60,000 square kilometres across the northeastern states of Borno, Yobe, Gombe and Bauchi. Its thick vegetation, thorny undergrowth and dense tree cover provide natural concealment, making aerial surveillance and ground operations particularly challenging.
To counter the threat, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) conducts extensive Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions to identify terrorist positions before carrying out precision air interdiction strikes targeting fortified camps, command centres and concealed weapons caches hidden beneath the forest canopy.
However, Sambisa is only one of dozens of forests that have become havens for armed groups across Nigeria’s northeast and northwest. Other major forest reserves, including Alawa, Kamuku and Kainji, have increasingly been exploited by terrorists and bandits seeking refuge beyond the reach of conventional security operations.
Security analysts have expressed growing concern over the Kainji Forest Reserve, which lies along a strategic corridor leading into Nigeria’s southwest. Once regarded as a temporary hideout, the reserve is now increasingly viewed as an emerging militant stronghold, earning the troubling reputation as the country’s “new Sambisa.”
Recent intelligence reports indicate that members of Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS), a faction linked to Boko Haram, have reportedly established a bomb-making facility within the reserve, raising fears that the area could evolve into a major operational hub if left unchecked.
The prospect of armed groups entrenching themselves in Kainji has heightened security concerns, with experts warning that preventing the forest from becoming another entrenched insurgent sanctuary is critical to safeguarding Nigeria’s southwest and limiting the spread of extremist violence.
