The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has called on private guards to be patriotic and put the safety of the nation first in all their doings.

The Kwara of the Commandant of the corps, Mr Muhammed Ibrahim, made the appeal during the passing out parade of some private guards on Friday in Ilorin.

Ibrahim noted that the professional personnel of the NSCDC had done a lot in training the guards, urging the participants to make use of the knowledge to ensure safety and peace.

“It is our duty to train interested private guards who wished to undergo security training, especially those that would be employed to secure the lives and properties of people anywhere they find themselves.

“The training is a continuous process as there are lots of private guards that had been trained and many more will be trained on security and defence,” he said.

Mr Danladi Da’orong, the command’s Head of Department of Private Guards Companies, said that the participants were able to meet up as expected within the period of training.

“I believe that the training will give them a robust ground to operate anywhere they are employed, according to the security procedure as intended by their various companies that recommended them.

“They are expected to meet up with the expectations from their employers, clients, especially the companies that recommended them and anybody found wanting would be investigated upon and properly dealt with,” he said.

Mr Adetosoye Adegoke, the National Director of Jemsal Security, said that the training given to the guards is relevant to their job and commended the efforts of NSCDC instructors for a good job.

Adegoke wished that the training would be done thrice in a year in order to keep the guards very active in their performance, adding that they will continue to enroll more guards for training.

One of the participants, Mr AbdulRahman Babatunde, expressed happiness in attending the training, saying that he thought guards are nothing, like some people believe they are hopeless, but now have a changed mind set.

“Considering all the things I experienced during the training, my advice for unemployed youths is to embrace security work which is far better and prestigious than smoking, drinking and doing illegal activities,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 34 private guards and five supervisors from different companies were trained on self defence and security tactics.

The command awarded three of the participants; Okoduwa Nicholas for most outstanding supervisor, Alake Olamilekan for best in self defence and Olubenshe Emmanuel for best in drill and parade.