The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) says it issued operational licences to 93 private guard companies (PGCs) in 2023, intending to strengthen national security.

The NSCDC Commandant General (CG), Ahmed Audi, said this during an interview with journalists at the Corps Headquarters on Wednesday in Abuja.

Mr Audi said that from the total number of 1,412 PGCs registered by the Corps, 92 were sealed across the country due to several operational violations but had 24 of the defaulting PGCs later unsealed in the year under review.

“After the sealing, they were instructed to comply and rectify the reasons for which they were sanctioned and after satisfying some conditions stipulated by law, we unsealed 24,” he said.

According to him, licencing, supervising, training and monitoring of PGC operations is one of NSCDC’s major mandates of which the Corps has been able to carve a niche for itself in this regard.

Mr Audi said that PGCs have been able to live up to expectations in complementing security efforts due to the widespread nooks and crannies of the country, hence, the leverage by security operatives on them for grassroots intelligence gathering.

“We have tremendously recorded some progress as they have been very helpful, and we have also been receiving useful security information from them, which has helped us better secure the country,” he said.

The CG said that before the Corps was saddled to regulate the operations of PGCs in Nigeria, the sector was operated by quacks but with the involvement of the NSCDC, a high level of sanity had been restored in the industry.

“We have removed quackery in the profession and now have ex-servicemen including those from the intelligence security community who have now joined the industry to make it more professional and robust,” Mr Audi said.

(NAN)