Twenty-nine licenses approved by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola have been issued to new private guard operators.

The licenses were issued by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps at the Corps National Headquarters, Abuja.

At a brief ceremony for the issuance of the licenses, the Commandant General, Dr Ahmed Audi, urged the new operators to use their new operational licenses to contribute their quota to promoting internal security mechanisms of the nation.

He reiterated that tackling the menace of insecurity in Nigeria requires collective and collaborative effort of all government and private security agencies, including all Nigerian citizens because the new wave of crime by criminals, bandits, terrorists and insurgents is assymetric in nature and therefore deserve serious confrontational approach.

Audi maintained that private guard practitioners must collaborate with the Corps especially in the area of credible intelligence gathering as the nation is bleeding from insecurity at the moment.

He described the situation as very disturbing and worrisome, as such, only timely intelligence sharing with the Corps as their supervising agency could enhance internal security.

Audi charged the new recipients to adhere strictly to the law guiding their operations, urging them to ensure prompt annual renewal of their licences to avoid being clamped down as a result of violation of extant rules by the Commandant General’s special task force set up to supervise and monitor their operations and activities across board.

He reminded the private security operators that security business is not an all comers affair, therefore, practitioners must put internal security of the nation first and above any commercial interest. While cautioning that their licences are not transferable, he also warned them on the use of firearms.

According to him, there would be no bearing of fire arms in their operations, it is illegal and criminal to do so, anybody caught is on his own and should be ready to face the consequences.

In his words, they are free to visit the nearest NSCDC formation closest for assistance whenever faced with overbearing challenges.

He emphasised on guards welfare, noting that his administration will not condone any act of maltreatment of field operators by their CEOs who often give them peanuts as salaries thereby making them to compromise and be lured into any criminal act so easily.

Audi relayed his vision to build a positive culture that would create a unique Identity for the Corps as a world class elite organisation that protects her citizens and safeguard all critical national assets and infrastructure and admonish the operators to see NSCDC as a dependable ally and partner in progress.

In the same vein, the National President, Association of Licensed Private Security Practitioners of Nigeria, Wilson Esagbedo who was present at the event added that the Private Guards Industry being the highest employer of labour in Nigeria according to the Bureau of Statistics is delighted to have the new recipients on board.

He advised them to take full advantage of the expanding private security guards industry to contribute their quota to strengthen the security architecture of the country.

Responding on behalf of the recipients, Chief Benjamin Omale of Black Tigers Security Services Limited appreciated the Commandant General for making the 1st Batch of this year presentation of licences to new Private Security Companies a reality.

He pledged that the recipients would leverage on the guidance of the Corps to advance the course of Security in Nigeria.

This is contained in a statement made available by Director Public Relations, Olusola Odumosu.