Aregbesola charges NSCDC CG to tighten security measures
By Matthew Denis, Abuja
The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, while on a working visit to the National headquarter of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Abuja, has expressed confidence in the capacity of the newly appointed Commandant General of NSCDC, Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi, mni, to reposition the Corps to become a more profound player in the security architecture of the country, as well as in securing Nigerians and their property.
This is contained in a statement made available to Nigerian NewsDirect on Tuesday.
According to him, his emergence as the CG after a keen and extensive contest was purely on merit and not by accident or favoritism.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Shuaib Belgore, the Minister lamented the state of insecurity in the country, which has been a challenge to the nation and charged the Commandant General to take up that responsibility to return Nigeria back to the old days when people could travel freely on our roads without fear of being waylaid, kidnapped or assassinated.
He told the NSCDC boss that it is not beyond the Corps to restore the country to a safe haven that it always has been, “there is a reason for your appointment by Mr President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces and it is required that you return our country to safety and bring it to peaceful times,” the Minister said.
He emphasized that Dr Audi’s appointment by the president is based on the observance that there is capacity to deliver on improving the security landscape of Nigeria which a lot of work and investments has gone into. That Nigeria has so much attractiveness in terms of the terrain, the geography, the people, the agricultural layout, the market and the infrastructure, hence there is need to protect, defend and sustain our nation by maintaining internal peace and security.
Ogbeni Aregbesola maintained that before the emergence of the new Commandant General, NSCDC has had challenges rising to the occasion of meeting the country’s need and fulfilling the mandates of the Corps that keeps expanding every day and to meet it, everybody in the Corps has to be on the same page with the commandant general. ‘’I want to charge all officers and men to give unalloyed support to the CG who has a fantastic vision which he enumerated on the day he was sworn in by the Hon minister, he has grand plans which should be adopted by everybody and all should make sure that this plans are achieved’’ the Minister was quoted as saying.
While enumerating the numerous tasks before the CG, Aregbesola charged the Corps helmsman to make sure that he deliver on his mandates and achieve the objective all Nigerians expect and desire. He assured the CG of the support of his Ministry and that of Mr. President to provide him the needed assistance to succeed in carrying out appropriate policies and programmes that would bring the Corps up to speed with it’s counterparts across the globe.
In his words, the Minister said “we are very comfortable with the Programme and pathway the CG has brought forward towards achieving this goals which includes administrative reforms, tactical and training programs as well as disciplinary enforcement and adjustment, there is really no alternative administratively, operationally and discipline wise, there is a lot of work to be done.”
Ogbeni Aregbesola therefore called on all personnel of the Corps to give utmost support to the Commandant General and also re-assured Nigerians that their capacity and ability is not in doubt and he is looking forward to working with the CG to ensure that Nigerians are safe and secure. He added that as somebody who has grown in the service with sufficient education and excellent vision, he has no doubt in Dr. Audi’s capacity, the support he is going to get from the officers and men, as well as from relevant Stakeholders.
The Commandant General in his response, thanked the Honorable Minister and the Permanent Secretary for their support since his assumption of office and assured them that he will work assiduously to provide the needed security for Critical National Asset and Infrastructure, the farming communities as well as our school children all over the country.
He reiterated that the Corps would be reinvigorated and nurtured into a formidable force under his leadership to continue to provide services that will justify the confidence reposed in her by all Nigerians and to even surpass the benchmark set for him by Mr President and the Honorable Minister of Interior as he is poised and determined to serve Nigeria with passion and without looking back.
