In the last few months, I have received enquiries from people asking essentially, whether NATFORCE (the National task force for the prohibition of illegal importation of small and light weapons) is recruiting. One person said that her sister was about to resign her appointment and head to Abuja for it; another said he had just finished his registration while a third pointedly asked if President Buhari had signed the Natforce/peace corp bill. These are just synopsis of the enquiries.
The enquirers reside in far flung places as Lagos and Katsina, among others. They are tech savvy people apparently, because they had done some background check via google during which they came across my article on Natforce/peace corp written some months ago and so decided to contact me; they believed that as a journalist am in a position to give them authentic information and current status of those two organizations.
Apparently they were lured with the bait that a bill to legalise Natforce was at the national assembly, that they should start processing their employment papers and enlist for the necessary trainings as joining the ‘reformed Natforce’ shall be on the basis of first come, first served.
The ‘recruiters’ stressed that the bill is about to be signed by the National Assembly. Well, I told the enquirers that even if a bill on ‘Natforce’ is before the National Assembly, it would take some months, even up to one year (not this 2021) for it to be passed. I added that even at that there is no guarantee that President Muhammadu Buhari would sign it into law when it is eventually forwarded to him for assent.
Recall that the federal government through the National Security Adviser, Major-General Babagana Munguno (retired) had in the first week of June, this year, disowned the National Task Force on the Prohibition of Illegal Importation/Smuggling of Arms, Ammunition, Light Weapons, Chemical Weapons and Pipeline Vandalism a.k.a. NATFORCE.
It described its operations as illegal and ordered its immediate disbandment. That was the basis for my June 9, 2021 article titled, “Like Peace Corps, like NATFORCE”. But, no sooner had I written this piece than Fatima Muhammad Goni, National Chairman Grassroots Mobilizers for PMB/Osinbajo (Maman Talakawa) reacted.
She said, “The writer stated that the Nigerian Task-force on the Prohibition of Illegal Importation of Arms, Ammunition, Light Weapons and Pipeline Vandalism (NATFORCE) is operating illegally. However, he/she failed to mention that there is a bill at the National Assembly that has passed second reading at both the House of Representatives and Senate seeking to formally adopt it as a state security agency.
The sponsors of the bill are the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogora and Senator Smart Adeyemi. But the Office of the National Security Adviser through its Head, Strategic Communication, ZM Usman, recently in a statement, said the NSA had directed the immediate dismantling of all illegal security outfits and warned against the use of these outfits to extort, harass and intimidate Nigerians”.
Muhammad Goni continued, “For the record, NATFORCE is an offshoot of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) which replaced the defunct Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons and served as the institutional mechanism for policy guidance, research and monitoring of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari in his wisdom allowed NATFORCE to be domiciled in the office of the National Security Adviser, with Maj-Gen. A. M. Dikko (rtd) as its National Coordinator. I wish to therefore, call on the Senate and the House of Representatives to pass the bill that will give legal backing to NATFORCE, as an agency to address the rising cases of unemployment among our teeming youths. Instead of allowing the growing militancy of youths into unprofitable ventures that will create multiple crises across the country, the teeming youths could be deployed to secure our national assets, a well as become gainfully employed.
NATFORCE, therefore, is the most desiring body that could be used to augment the growing security lapses and also to nip in the bud the needless insecurity heralding Nigeria our dear country”. Fact of the matter is that to-date, the ‘NATFORCE bill” has yet to be passed by the national assembly, not to talk of Mr. President signing it.
Similar arguments were made for the Nigeria Peace Corps which was operating in most states of the federation, having ‘employed’ thousands of youths and kitted them accordingly after they had paid for the uniform. Their hopes were premised on the ‘speculation’ that President Buhari was about to assent to a bill formally establishing and to legalise it.
However, the president refused to sign it when it was sent to his table by the 8th National Assembly. He cited paucity of funds and the fact that there are already several military and para-military federal government-run agencies in existence. Nonetheless, the Peace Corps Bill has been reintroduced in this 9th Assembly. They hope to succeed this time. And so the youths’ hopes have been rekindled. They are on standby hoping that their ‘employment’ would be formalized soonest while others are joining the queue.
‘A bill to recognize us is in the national assembly it has passed first and second reading there’. That seems to be the sing song of those that are now recruiting youngsters into illegal organisations.
With high unemployment rate in our country, it is easy for people to succumb to such baits and keep hope alive. Consider also, the recent case of the ‘Nigeria Merchant Navy’ a.k.a. ‘Coastal Defence Force’ which the police describe as an illegal body. Items recovered by the police after arrest of some 107 trainees at the organisation’s camp in Lagos included military accoutrements, recruitment and promotion letters, among others.
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeeem Odumosu said that in spite of the fact that the Nigeria Merchant Navy is not recognized by government and indeed is outlawed, “they operate a military outfit, giving military training to unsuspecting young Nigerians”.
However, the organisation’s ‘commanding officer’, Mr. Dakare countered that they are not outlawed but waiting for recognition from the National Assembly and government.
He said that they have been recruiting and training personnel pending their recognition by the federal government to operate like the Civil Defence. “We agitate for federal government, which they approved it. The first and second reading, even the third reading is on, which the police knew”, he reportedly said. You can draw your own conclusions.
Ikeano, a journalist, writes via [email protected] 08033077519
