At least 600 vigilantes in Katsina State are undergoing special training on arm combat and other detective work to ensure effective community policing in all parts of the state.
The training was organised by the state government under the supervision of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Training College, Katsina.
It’s aimed at complementing the efforts of conventional security forces in combatting the immerging security threats such as banditry, kidnapping, and other associated crimes in the state.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Ibrahim Ahmad, who flagged off the training program on Wednesday at the NSCDC Training College, Katsina announced that the state government is targeting to train at least 3,000 vigilante corps before the end of the year.
He explained that similar training was conducted by the police where the first batch of 500 vigilante corps was trained recently, bringing the total of those trained to 1,100.
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According to him, the state government is evolving a community-based strategy to solve the problem, stating that the trainees will assist in intelligence gathering in their various communities. He, however, called on the recalcitrant terrorists to lay down their arms and embrace peace.
“Let them surrender themselves to the nearest security agencies if they are ready for peace so that for development to thrive. Because we will not allow anybody to disrupt the peace of the state again.
“We want to also appeal to the members of the public to cooperate with us and understand our resolve and do the needful,” he stated.
In his remarks, the College Commandant of the NSCDC Training College, Katsina, ACG Babangida Abdullahi Dutsinma, said that with this approach by the state government, Katsina will soon be the most secure and peaceful state in Nigeria.
He assured of the readiness of the college to do everything possible to ensure that the lives and property of people in the state are secured.
Dutsinma, while tracing the history of the college which he said was established in 2008, observed that the current administration of Governor Aminu Masari has been up and doing to ensure that the training doesn’t cut off.
At the end of this training, the participants will also be given a certificate each. Most of the trainees in this batch are either degree, Ph.D., NCE, Diploma, or certificate holders in various disciplines.
