Nigeria Set To Ban Private Foreign Security Experts, Accuses Them of Aiding Insurgency

A new regulation is coming to flush out expatriates operating private security outfits in the country, the Federal Government has said.

Such expatriates, it was learnt, are being suspected of aiding insurgency and criminalities.

Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Commandant General Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu stated these in Kaduna at the weekend during the Managing Directors/Chief Executive Officers parley organised by the Kaduna Chapter of Association of Licenced Private Security Practitioners of Nigeria (ALPSPN).

The NSCDC boss, who was represented at the event by the Assistant Commandant General PGC, Helen Amakiri, said the new regulation’s document is being designed to address the lacuna in the 1986 Private Guard Companies (PGC) Act, which he said has become so obsolete.

Muhammadu said: “Luckily, Section 35 of that Act empowers the Minister of Interior to make regulations. So, as the regulator of the industry, we asked the permission of the minister, which is the chief regulator, to formulate regulations that will address all the lacuna in the Act; and that we have done.

“So, we have an up-to-date document called ‘Private Security Regulations 2018’ that can be used to regulate the industry and upgrade it to where we want it to be. It has been gazetted by the Federal Government press.

“The regulation is going to stamp illegal operators and even foreign operators. The PGC Act says, no foreigner should own private security company in Nigeria. But the regulation has gone further to say that, no foreigner should own, be a director or operative of private security company in Nigeria.

“So, we don’t want foreigners in private security industry in Nigeria. The reason is that, we have been receiving intelligence reports that these foreign operators and directors aid and abet terrorism and insurgency, as well as militancy, especially in the Niger Delta and Northeast of Nigeria.”

The Commandant General, however, asked the private security operators to be ready to upgrade their practices and follow the guidelines.

ALPSPN National President Dr. Davidson Akhimien asked the Federal Government to employ their service in intelligence-gathering to address the various security challenges confronting the country.

Akhimien, who was represented by the association’s vice president, Emilia Chasa, noted that security in Nigeria has become a burning issue.

The private security operators, he said, can assist in the area of intelligence-gathering, as they have their men in every nook and cranny of the country.

On his part, the Kaduna State Chapter Chairman, Dauda Zuye-Nda Ageni called on the relevant regulators of the ALPSPN to help in adequately addressing challenges of multiple taxation and quackery in the system.

Culled from: The Nation Newspaper