NSCDC moves against oil thieves, trains 10,000 personnel on weapon handling

THE Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) read the Riot Act to oil thieves in the country, vowing to deploy newly-trained men and newly-acquired assets after them.

Commandant General of the Corps, Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi speaking at the graduation of personnel trained on weapon handling, disclosed that the Corps has trained over 10,000 personnel in weapon handling and special tactics within the past two years.

He warned that there would be no hiding place for the criminals who are sabotaging the nation’s economy.

He said: “You must do your best to reduce and if possible eliminate oil theft totally. We must arrest oil thieves. We shall go after them and bring them to book.

“We have made strong statements that vandals should relocate to other countries because they are going to have a hard time with the NSCDC,” he said.

Audi said: “Aside from the training of over 10,000 officers and men in Arms and Weapon Handling, other specialized areas have been created and keenly nurtured such as the CGs Intelligence squad, CGs Antivandal squad, CGs Marine squad, RRS, Female squad, Crack squad and the most recently, the Safe School Initiative saddled with the responsibility of safeguarding our schools from outlaws”.

According to him, the corps has developed a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for itself, adding that he has also been able to establish training schools in Nasarawa, Enugu and Jos.

While clarifying the issue of promotion backlogs especially as it affects the 2010 and 2012 sets, the CG explained that all efforts were being made to address the challenge.

He said; “We came and met a backlog of promotion arrears but as of today, we are no longer owing.

“We are aware that we have some of our personnel who belong to 2012 and 2010 sets but we are working on it because it is an inherited problem which we are dealing with.

“We have tried to elevate some of them based on available vacancies given to us from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation OHCSF. Promotion is done based on vacancies and federal character. So, I will appeal to them to be patient.”