NSCDC trains 1,520 officers on firearms in Oyo state

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Oyo State Command, has trained 1,520 officers to handle firearms in order to better secure government property in the state.
Mr John Adewoye, Oyo State Commandant of NSCDC, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Ibadan.
Adewoye said that 1,300 officers were trained on how to handle firearms in 2016, while additional 220 were trained in 2017 bringing the total number to 1,520.
He said that the reason for the training on the use of firearms was to enable them to be proactive and scientific to the increasing rate of insurgency and crime in the country.
“NSCDC needs to be updated so that at any point in time the corps would not be found wanting and would be able to deploy more of its officers to curb any form of insurgency and crime in the state.
“With this training the corps will be able to deploy more officers to the pipeline right of way to ensure that no single pipe line is vandalised in the state.
“Let me tell you, for the past one and a half year that I have been posted to Oyo state, no single pipeline vanadalism has been recorded.
“Our mandate is to safeguard critical property of  federal, state and local government, like  Steel and Mining site, pipeline, electrical cable, water cable and anything provided by the government for the citizenry,’’ Adewoye said.
He, however, said the corps has created a department that oversee the issue of herdsmen, kidnapping, Boko Haram and other form of criminality in order to  ensure peace and harmony in the state.
Adewoye said that all the security agencies like the Nigeria Army, Depart of State Service (DSS), and Police are working in collaboration day and night to keep Oyo state and Nigeria in particular a safe place to live.
He advised the public to give information promptly to the security agencies, saying without information there could be no way the security agencies would be able to do their job effectively.
He added that the number of security personnel in Oyo state is not enough to cover every town and villages in the state, so we need information from the public.
He said that NSCDC is not presently recruiting; saying anybody telling any applicant to go online and register is a fraudster.