The Ministerial Committee set up to develop a standard curriculum for NSCDC training schools, across the country for career progression and better service delivery has submitted the proposed curriculum to the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in Abuja.
Presenting the 16-man Committee members to the Minister of Interior, at the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Board (CDCFIB), the Commandant General, NSCDC, Ahmed Abubakar Audi, explained that the committee was made up of retired senior officers from the Police, Military, Correctional service, NSCDC, university lecturers, lawyers amongst others.
The chairman of the committee, Prof. Suleiman Mohammed, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of Nasarawa State University, alongside other committee members, presented the curriculum and survey report to the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola after 8 weeks of intensive brainstorming.
Prof. Suleiman commended the Minister for his foresightedness, in setting up the committee, reiterating that the Standard Curriculum was careful, developed to further professionalise the Corps, in line with international best practices to meet present and future challenges.
The committee chairman opined that to raise the standard of the training schools, to achieve a higher level of professionalism, proper infrastructure, curriculum, staffing and funding is a major prerequisite for its attainment.
He explained that the committee identified the need for intensive training for all entry cadres in Katsina training school and recommended that the name of the college be changed from “NSCDC College of Peace and Disaster Management to Civil Defence Training and Doctrine College”.
He said that there was also the need for specialised training on logistics, communication, intelligence, and forensic studies.
“The committee realised that the senior officers’ cadre need to acquire strategic level trainings in preparation for higher command responsibilities. We recommend the training to be at Civil Defence Academy in Sauka which we suggest should be renamed as Centre for Civil Defence Studies,” he proposed.
According to Suleiman, the committee will ensure that the Corps take permanent legal statutory ownership of the training institutions through proper documentation and registration of the schools and their infrastructures.
He informed that the curriculum was established with honour and dedication, he prayed the Minister and other policy managers to find the present document worthy of implementation for the benefit of the Corps and the nation in general.
The Minister of Interior said that the development of the curriculum was an effort to further promote and place the Corps at a more standardized level as he appreciated the committee for their tortuous efforts.
“It is my vision that the Corps should be able to provide the best education and training that is acceptable worldwide,” he said.
He continued that the array of intellectuals in the committee showed the determination to acquire improved standards for officers and men in the Corps.
“Education generally is the bedrock of human development, which is the difference between animals and man, hence, the use of knowledge for the improvement of man,” he said.
He hoped that the committee had humanised the services of the Corps in developing the curriculum having in mind that the Corps must deal with citizens in civil ways to make them comply with extant laws.
“Being civil does not remove firmness, so I want to believe the study curriculum developed infused sufficient courses that will emphasise civility and humanity in the delivery of service by the corps.
“We cannot brutalise people and expect compliance as citizens deserve respect, dignity and honour, more so, the age and generation of people we are dealing with and will deal with in the future are people who respect their dignity during enforcement of the rule of law. No human, no matter their economic class will want to trade his dignity, so, we want to believe this will make our officers and men, gentlemen,” he said.
Aregbesola appreciated the committee for visiting the Corps’ colleges physically before coming up with key suggestions for improvement.
“This document will be critically assessed and studied, we might not accept everything, but we will look into the document, and most will be implemented if not all. The document will be passed on to the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Board (CDCFIB) and should be ready in four weeks for further study after I go through them. The government will look into losses in some of the schools and make amendments,” he said.
He also said that the curriculum will be useful in the promotion of officers as relevant courses ought to have been taken before promotion unlike the Corps’ initial reliance on promotion examinations.
According to him, “as of today there is no training program for private guards and in the pyramid of security structure, the level at which Private Guard Companies (PGC) operate is widespread, so, we cannot continue to allow them to operate without proper training.
“PGCs training can reduce insecurity in the country to the barest minimum as they can give credible grassroots reports. There is a need to further work with stakeholders to develop training programs for PGC to be certified on their job as this will be a complementary service to security agencies.”
