The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) trained over 20,000 of its personnel on use of arms for security operations in the country, Corps Public Relations Officer (PRO) Emmanuel Okeh, said on Friday.
Okeh told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the 20,000 were from all NSCDC commands in the country.
He said the training followed directive from Ministry of Interior that personnel of the corps should be trained to use arms.
He added that “ìnstead of the corps having an armed squad, the training should be for all personnel.
“All personnel should be trained on arms bearing so that when the need arises, there will not be a
vacuum.
“In case of emergency, any personnel can be directed at anytime for an operation.”
The corps PRO said the use of arms had gone beyond narrowing it down to selected few for operations, noting that training and retraining of personnel was ongoing.
He explained that “training departments of the corps’ commands in states would continue to
organise in-house training to ensure all were trained.”
The spokesman said that personnel of the corps could not be deployed to protect sensitive areas without undergoing training in both state and federal levels. (NAN)