United States says it will train and provide technical support to personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to enhance its operations in the counter-terrorism campaign.

Senior Police Advisor, U.S. Embassy, Michael Bonner said this when he visited the state NSCDC Commandant in Maiduguri Ibrahim Abdullahi.

Bonner said such support had become necessary in view of NSCDC’s contributions in promoting national security, especially in the protection of critical infrastructure.

The training includes counter-terrorism techniques to enable you to identify potential threats and protect people in soft targets as well as prevent terror attack,” he said.

According to Bonner, the NSCDC plays a vital role in community policing, in view of its closer ties with people in the society.

He said the U.S. Embassy would liaise with some humanitarian organisations to assist the command improve its operations.

Responding, Abdullahi said the command had recorded significant success toward providing civic protection in the state.

He recalled that at the beginning of the Boko Haram insurgency, personnel of the command were not allowed to carry arms, noting that the trend did not deter them from their duties.
The NSCDC commandant said the command had recorded successes in various operations against the insurgents in the state.

We have arrested a lot of high profiled Boko Haram insurgents, their food and fuel suppliers, we also intercepted some cow rustlers and recovered a spiritual Book which the insurgents used to hypnotise new recruits,” he said.

According to him, the command has deployed personnel to some of the liberated areas and University of Maiduguri.

Abdullahi added that the command had also resolved more than 15,000 cases under its dispute resolution exercise.

The commandant listed lack of patrol vehicles and obsolete equipment as some of the challenges being faced by the command.

He stressed the need to rehabilitate offices of the command vandalised by the Boko Haram insurgents in the 27 local government areas of the state.