Sokoto community guards: matters arising
It is almost five months now since the graduation of the Sokoto Community Guards Corps but their impact is not yet felt because they are not being provided with the necessary kits that would enable them establish their presence in their respective communities.
It was reliably gathered that, the state government has done its part by settling the consulting firm handling the project and it is now expected to reciprocate this gesture by providing the guards with all they need to swing into action.
The security outfit is parts of the state government efforts to restore security especially in the 13 local government areas that have been experiencing security challenges which have so far claimed the lives of hundreds of people, displaced thousands and made many women and children widows and orphans.
The guards which were given skills of combatant and light weapons handling are expected to assist the conventional security operatives in maintaining peace and order in their respective communities through intelligent gathering and sharing among others.
Already, the state government had procured 30 operational vehicles and 700 motorcycles for the guards in addition to providing them with befitting office accomodations across the states.
However, the consultant was alleged to have failed to fulfill a vital part of the contractual agreement which include providing the guards with light weapons for self defence.
An official who was equally instrumental to the establishment of the guards, maintained that, breaching the law in acquiring the fire arms would be a first step towards outlawing their operations.
We, the concerned citizens of Sokoto state agreed in totality with his submission, because these guards were established by law of the state, so anything associating with them should have a legal backing.
They cannot operate like other non-state-actors who have been using unlicenced weapons to carry out mayhem on innocent Nigerians.
It was reliably gathered that, the consultant had earlier succumbed to this and agreed to use a licensed vendor. But his alleged failure to complete the vendor’s money was the reason behind the delay in the delivery of the weapons.
We therefore called on the state government to hasten action on the process of acquiring the light fire arms by invoking the necessary provision of the contract with the supplier.
If however, the contractor has legitimate reason for this delay, his plight should be looked into because of the urgency in deploying these guards failure of which could affect their morale and possibly begin losing touch with the weapon handling skills they had acquired.
This piece is written by the Concerned Citizens of Sokoto State.
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