Insecurity: NSCDC trains personnel in local languages for intelligence gathering

As part of measures the boost its intelligence-gathering capacity, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC has partnered with the National Institute for Cultural Orientation NICO to commence a language proficiency training for officers and men of the Corps.

The initiative is to enhance their skills and mastery of the three major indigenous Nigerian languages as a panacea to breaking communication barriers during operations, intelligence gathering and information sharing amongst others.

Declaring the programme open in Abuja, the CG NSCDC, Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi described the language training programme as very central to the corporate existence of the Corps as a grassroots security outfit saddled with the onerous responsibilities of protecting lives and securing critical national assets and infrastructure.

 

He stated that access to timely information and credible Intelligence gathering which drives most successful security operations requires proper indigenization and integration of officers and men of the Corps in various communities where they find themselves or are deployed for ad hoc functions.

“As such, exigency of duty demands versatility and ability to manoeuvre any challenging situation by any personnel, hence, the need for the collaboration with NICO to have Corps personnel fully trained in Nigerian languages”, he stated.

The NSCDC boss added that his administration is committed to training and retraining of personnel to enhance the professionalism of the service for effective service delivery to the nation while at the same time building a positive culture that will create a unique identity as a world-class elite organization that protects lives and property of its citizens.

“It beholds on all general duty officers who could be posted to any location in the country to acquire requisite knowledge of our indigenous languages as it does not only promote our culture by bringing the officers closer to the people, but it also helps to blend with various communities easily for effective intelligence and information gathering. For instance, the newly established Female Squad has been interfacing and sensitizing students, teachers and parents in different parts of the country; therefore, the knowledge of indigenous languages comes handy in making interactions easy for them while on this assignment”, Audi said.

In his address, the Executive Secretary of NICO, Mr Ado Muhammed Yahuza stated that the Nigerian Indigenous Language Programme is to address the unfortunate and alarming rate at which Nigerian languages are losing relevance in the scheme of things and the threat of its extinction.

In this regard, he maintained that indigenous languages are a strategic tool for fostering national identity, national consciousness and integration.

He added that the “language in the Barracks programme” has the added benefit of being an invaluable tool for effective intelligence and information gathering by officers and men of the military and para-military agencies, reiterating that with about 13 centres spread across the country, the agency will engage officers and men of the Corps in about six states across the federation.