RAYMOND OZOJI reports
Anambra State Government has scheduled Tuesday February 17 for the commencement of the formal registration processes and proper documentation for all private security organisations said to have been operating illegally in the state.
This was the crux of the matter at an interactive session with operators and representatives of private security organisations held in Awka, the state capital aimed at ensuring sanity and orderliness in the sector.
Presiding over the meeting, Governor Soludo's special adviser on Community Security Prince Ken Emeakayi expressed concerns that none of the private security outfits had proper registration yet they have been operating in the state without proper legal presence and requisite documentations.
Although he observed that some of the private security agencies had obtained Certificates of Registration from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) but he equally made it abundantly clear that CAC documentation was not enough to qualify them to operate as certified private security organisations.
Emeakayi however explained that what qualifies them to function as legal private security companies was proper registration with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) because the NSCDC, according to him, is the statutory federal government agency in charge of registering private security guards as provided in the constitution after which they will also register with the State, their operational base.
The governor's aide who said that they have intelligence reports that some people who claimed to own private security companies were avenues for giving criminals firearms, maintained that the DSS, the Police and the Civil Defense, will aside the registrations, profile personnel of private security companies to ensure that they were not security operatives in the day and kidnappers/armed robbers at night.
He was cognizant that registration with the federal agency does not automatically qualify them to carry firearms instead what qualifies a private security company to bear arms is either they are members, associates or affiliates of the state security outfit Agunechemba, stressing that private security guards doesn't mean vigilantes.
He therefore emphasized that in no distant time a joint taskforce would be out on the streets picking up those he mentioned as illegal security operatives especially in the markets while the enforcement team will also descend heavily on private security operatives involved in cultism and illicit drugs.
Emeakayi noted that where there are established cases of involvement in cult related activities, drug abuse and other criminal offenses, it would be tantamount to outright termination of operational license of the security company coupled with attendant jail terms.
He therefore reinforced his position that the registration of all private security firms in the state is of paramount importance because henceforth anyone not adequately registered would be treated as an illegal entity.
One of the participants at the meeting with private security service providers, a retired Deputy Commissioner of Police DCP Samuel Ezekwo who owns SECLINK Vigilante Services, stressed the dire need for networking and information exchange amongst security operatives to properly secure Anambra and also ensure safety of her citizens.
##
0 Comments