The Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr. Abubakar Audi has called for strategic collaboration among all military and paramilitary agencies to tackle the current security challenges in the country.
Speaking in Abuja at the Opening Ceremony for the Training of Trainers Course in Humanitarian Assistance in West Africa, a collaboration of NSCDC, Austrian Ministry of Defence and Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR), Audi said the only way to combat the security challenges bedeviling the nation is for all agencies in the security architecture of Nigeria to stop hiding strategies from another.
He said: “We should share information together, no agency should have a monopoly over strategy.”
Audi said: “The present security challenges bedeviling the continent especially the West Africa subregion has lead to so many humanitaran issues.”
He added that Nigeria with a population of over 200 million people play a vital role in the stability of the West Africa subregion, lamenting that the country has had its share of security challenges occasioned by violence extremism, banditry and lately experiencing a spike in kidnapping/abduction activities amongst other myriads of insecurity challenges.
He said: “The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps through her mandate, have been empowered to carry out and implement peace building, conflict management, disaster management activities and operations amongst others, aimed at addressing the rising humanitarian infractions through the deployment of appropriate skills and interventions.
“To achieve this, training and re-training of personnel through capacity building programmes such as this remains imperative.”
Audi said: “It is my delight, to see this novel partnership aimed at training selected personnels drawn based on geopolitical zones affiliations across our formations and colleges.
“It is expected that the trained personnels will later form the country team for continuous implementation of the objective of HAWA project.”
He said: “It is on this note that I want to thank the HAWA project manager for Africa, Ms Birgit Mayerhofer and the entire ASPR team, as well as the Austria Ministry of Defence for supporting the Corps to carry on the objectives of the HAWA project here in Nigeria.
He charged the officers selected to be trained in the one-weeklong training to be attentive, knowing that they were picked for their skills to be built for the betterment of the Corps.