The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) under the astute leadership of CG Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu has been up to task in fulfilling its mandate of providing measures against threat and any form of attack or disaster against the nation and its citizenry.
When President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu as CommandantGeneral of NSCDC, many security analyst applauded the president’s decision. Today, many Nigerians would attest to the fact that the NSCDC has been repositioned going by its numerous feats.
The Gana administration adopted the simple strategy of boosting the morale of the Corps by ensuring prompt payment of salaries and allowances while normalising promotions in the corps. Before the coming of Gana, promotions took years but Gana normalised it .
With the growth of technology, criminals have become sophisticated. The Gana administration trained over 40,000 staff in modern warfare and crime prevention. They were trained home and abroad with the best of state of the art gadgets. This has gone a long way to reduce kidnapping, banditry and vandalisation of state properties that are key factors to the survival of our economy.
To give the service the best of hands, NSCDC under CG Muhammadu has ensured the men and officers of the Corps attend regulars courses which now made NSCDC an excellent model. The NSCDC boss values and place much importance on the lives and welfare of all officers. Staff are not let vulnerable as they have been given good insurance cover. This has boost the the morale of staff and has made service delivery very efficient, thereby attracting many organisations to continue to partner with NSCDC.
It is also a known fact that officers that lose their lives or got injured in the course of duty are properly taken care of. Their families are not allowed to bear the expenses or burden as the service speedily takes responsibility. Though not a revenue generating organisation, the efficiency and professional services provided by NSDC has been topnotch. One major function of NSDC is registration of Private Guard and Companies. It has of recent generated N800 million from issuing of applications and licenses to private companies. This was largely due to the efforts and foresight of the CG Gana led administration to reposition the agency for self efficiency. Agriculture is the largest employer of Nigerians. But of recent, it has become insecure for farmers. CG Muhammadu in his wisdom with the loyalty of officers and men of the corps established Agro Ranger Corps to provide physical security to farmers as well as the protection of allied investment in the country to align with President Buhari’s vision on food sufficiency for all Nigerians. Farmers have applauded the initiative.
It is worthy to note that the Corps has performed credibly in fighting insurgency. Over 5000 personnel have been sent to Northeast to help curb insurgency. Also, the Corps has secured more than 300 conviction with over 500 awaiting trial. Not long ago, the Corps signed MOU with many organisations including Nigeria Communications Commission to guard telecom facilities. The Gana- led administration also upgraded the IT section of Private Guards unit ,this has made renewal of licenses easy as it can now be done from any part of the country.
NSCDC is now in all the 774 local government in the country, this has greatly helped in fighting crimes. Many of the Corps hiccups such as lack of offices and residential apartments for officers and men of the corps has been largely resolved.Office structures have been built for some state commands, there are new Offices in Niger, Delta, Kebbi, Ekiti, Ebonyi, Anambra, Sokoto ,Ogun Ondo states, among others. The corps headquarters in Abuja is not left behind as it is having many sprawling buildings, a 12 number of 2 bedroom flats, four storey building of 2 bedroom flats, Also,a storey building of 12 number of classrooms.
No wonder, CG Muhammadu was listed among 20 people to be honoured by the United Nations at the United Nations Public Service Awards in New York. He also bagged an award in Geneva as the Knight of the International Civil Defence Organisation award. With all modesty, one can say that CG Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu has repositioned the corps and placed it among the best in the security circle. He has put the Corps on path excellence. Like all men of purpose, he is still working diligently to ensure that NSCDC surpass his successes and above all continue to live up to its mandate!.
Mokwa writes from Lugbe, Abuja.
