Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has charged men and officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC), to show more commitment to the internal security of the nation by living up to expectation.
The Minister gave the charge in Abuja on Thursday, 8 September, 2022, at the commissioning of 96 newly acquired operational and logistics vehicles by the NSCDC.
Aregbesola said the fact that government has continued to revolve strategies to address the many challenges of insecurity in the nation, is enough to put all security agencies on their toes to defend the nation from all forms of internal security threats, noting that no excuse would be entertained should they fail to live to their expectations.
He said: βThe federal ministry of interior plays an important role in managing the nationβs internal security.
βWe do this in policy formulation generally, and in the supervision or superintendence of the four paramilitary agencies with us and these agencies are theΒ Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, the Nigerian Correctional Service, NCoS, and the Federal Fire Service, FFS.
βThese agencies are in the forefront of the business of protecting lives and property and putting an end to insecurity in the country by playing a complimentary role with other security agencies like the Nigeria police.β
The Minister noted that: “With vehicular support and equipment as well as other supports given to the Corps, there is no excuse for failure than to deliver on its mandate.”
He reiterated that the inauguration of the vehicles was another leap in promoting NSCDC for better performance in tandemΒ with President Buhari policy who is totally intolerant to anything that threatens the security of the nation.
He further explained that the support is to enable personnel of the Corps mobilise and arrive timely at scenes of crimes or events for improved service delivery.
The Minister who described the Corps as a Nigerian creation, warned personnel against being brutal but rather encouraged them to uphold civility and to engage the populace pursuantΒ to its mandate of protecting Critical National Assets and Infrastructure, Anti-vandalisation, regulation of private guards companies, crisis and disaster management and Agro rangers etc.
He commended the leadership of NSCDC under Dr Audi which he described as focused and visionary which has resulted in significant milestones in the last one year through the protection of Critical National Assets and Infrastructure, regulation of Private Guard Companies and Anti-vandalisation etc.
On his part, Commandant General, Dr. Ahmed Audi, assured that the supports received will serve as catalyst in boosting activities of the Corps and promised to utilise them effectively and efficiently to serve the purposes for which they acquired.
The CG recalled that the Nigeria Security and Civil DefenceCorps (NSCDC) has destroyed 71 illegal refineries, and arrested about 501 suspected pipeline vandals and oil thieves and secured 59 convictions in the last eight months.
Audi who also promised to continue to work in synergy with sister security agencies noting that the specialised operational vehicles would be used to combat potential threats to national security, resulting from felonious acts.
He identified such acts as crude oil theft, illegal bunkering, smuggling, pipeline vandalism and other crimes within the coastal and offshore areas.
Audi expressed appreciation to other sister security agencies and stakeholders for their continuous collaboration and cooperations.
He revealed that the inaugurated vehicles would be deployed to state commands, headquarters and other designated specialised duties, warning that any personnel found to connive or compromise national security would face the law court of ethics and the corpsβ Standard Operational Procedure for appropriate sanctions.
