The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in partnership with the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) have started language proficiency training for officers and men of the Corps.

The laudable initiative aims at breaking communication barriers, especially with the locals during operations and improves their mastery of the basic indigenous Nigerian languages towards effective intelligence-gathering and information sharing.

The CG NSCDC, Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi who declared the program open in Abuja stated that the training would be instrumental towards protecting lives and securing critical national assets and infrastructure.

According to Dr Abubakar, the language training program is very central to the corporate existence of the Corps as a grassroots security outfit.

He further reiterated that since Corps in various communities are normally deployed for ad hoc functions intermittently, proper indigenization and integration is the key towards access to timely information and credible Intelligence gathering which is paramount for successful security operations.

The NSCDC boss added that the Security Outfit is a paramilitary outfit charged in addition to their primary responsibilities, with overseeing the training, licensing, monitoring and supervising private security guard companies and disaster management and crisis mitigation.

“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.

“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 in handy in making interactions easy for them while on this assignment”, Audi said.

The Executive Secretary of NICO, Mr Ado Muhammed Yahuza, emphasized the need to resuscitate the Nigerian Indigenous Language Programme, lamenting at the speed with which Nigerian languages were fast losing relevance in the scheme of things which may result in its ultimate extinction.

He, therefore, emphasized that indigenous languages represent the strategic tool for fostering national identity, national consciousness and integration.

“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, Mr Yahuza added.

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