Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, Olufemi Oluyede, has announced plans to deploy a new Joint Special Task Force, code-named “Savanah Shield,” to tackle terrorist activities in Kwara State and parts of Niger State.
Oluyede disclosed this on Tuesday, during the 2026 budget defence session organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Defence in Abuja. He said the Defence Headquarters was intensifying efforts to improve security across the country despite limited resources.
According to him, while security conditions have improved in the North-East, challenges persist in the North-West and North-Central regions.
“We are evolving modalities to checkmate all these challenges within the ambit of the resources that we have. A new set of special forces was trained and drafted to Benue and Plateau; we are about to deploy another joint task force that will cover Kwara and some parts of Niger to ensure that things get better, and it will be named Savanah Shield.
“A joint task commander has been appointed, and we are trying to draw resources from other places to ensure that area is covered,” he said.
Acknowledging that the armed forces cannot singlehandedly secure the entire country, Oluyede called for stronger collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
He urged citizens to support intelligence-gathering efforts and avoid collaborating with criminal groups, stressing that national security requires collective responsibility.