A retired Deputy Controller of the Civil Defence Corps and top stakeholder of the National Taskforce on the Prohibition of Illegal Importation/Smuggling of Arms, Ammunition and Light Weapons (NATFORCE), Alhaji Aminu Kofar Soro, has made it clear that, the agency is not established to undermine the nation’s security apparatus but to augment its activities for the benefit of the country.
Soro, who spoke at a media parley in Abuja on theissue of the National Task Force, it was founded basically to close the gap in term of security in Nigeria on the one hand and in other hand to be able to solve the issue of unemployment of the youth in the country, hoping that, at the end of the day, it would not appear as if it was out to diminish the powers of the other security agencies.
The security expert, who admitted that, “It is a notorious fact that, they are doing their best, however observed that, “over the years, experience has shown that there are still some gaps that need to be filled,” stating that, “the Task Force is actually out to close those gaps of insecurity and those gaps of unemployment in this country.”
He revealed further that, it has been noticed over the years that there are so many countries within the West Africa sub-regions that have keyed in to this ECOWAS initiative of ensuring total prevention of the influx of illegal arms and ammunitions from entering the country, saying, if that is achieved at the end of the day, “we will not allow the illegal arms to enter the country before we start to pursue those who brought them i!”
Speaking on the organization’s plan for the youth about job opportunity, DCG (retd), said, Youth employment is indeed very important, regretting that, “We have many graduates with very bright futures from universities with first degree, second degree, third degree but sadly over eight, nine years, they have not got jobs.
Against that background, he agreed that, “It is important for us to bring them in and provide them jobs and make them productive by bringing them to the productive sector of the Nigeria economy,” asserting that, “ this will, indeed, help this country, it is the needful thing to do and the youth are very happy about it so far.”
The retired DCG of the Civil Defence Corps disclosed that, “As volunteers, they are eager to work for NATFORCE and remove all these illegal arms and ammunitions from the country,” expressing satisfaction that, “We have prevented idle hand from becoming the devil’s workshop.”
He hopes that, “by the time the youth come in, most of the vices we are witnessing, theft, kidnapping, banditry, insurgency and the rest of them will become things of the past,” stating that, “That is what NATFORCE is committed to do.”
President Muhammadu Buhari, according to him, is clearly in support of the initiative because he knows the benefit accruable to the country from it as well as the benefit accruable to the citizenry, adding that, since he is aware of what we have been suffering from the issues of banditry and insurgency in this country, he will like the situation where an agency like this would come up to be able to eradicate all these vices.
President Muhammadu Buhari, Soro goes on, would like that the youth of this country are gainfully employed and they are in the protective sector of the economy, believing that, “because of that, President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR), is indeed in support of an initiative like this.”
Concluding, Soro expressed the conviction that, “President Buhari would not want a situation that anybody would be kidnapped in this country, he would not want a situation that banditry continues in this country because he has been spending money to fight that these things must stop.
“And by the special grace of God, with coming in of NATFORCE, we would of course, see to the end of all the menace in this country. And I want to inform you that with the strategic plans put in place, by Baba Mohammed, the Director-General of the organization, we would be able to right the wrongs that have been noticed in the system.”
