Following the attack on farmers and farmlands by hoodlums, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), yesterday, graduated over 638 officers and men to provide security for farmers and farmlands across the country.
The officers who passed out from an eight-week intensive Agro Rangers training will ensure increased food production to guarantee food security.
Speaking during the passing out parade, the Commandant-General of the corps, Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi, charged the newly-trained personnel to display professionalism in the discharge of their duties.
The Agro Rangers is a specialised unit in the corps, established in 2016 through the initiatives of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and its interior counterpart to provide security and protection for agro-allied investments, farmlands, farmers, and other investments in the agricultural sector in the country.
The CG explained that the training of more personnel for the Agro Rangers unit was necessitated by recent events of violent clashes between farmers and herders in some parts of the country which has to be checked before it snowballs into an unmanageable situation.
He urged the newly-trained Agro Rangers who would be deployed for various assignments to remain committed to the tasks ahead of them.
Audi charged them to imbibe discipline and patriotism as their watchwords, urging them to remain gallant, fearless, rugged and non-compromising in the discharge of their duties.
The CG charged them to work assiduously to boost food production by protecting all agro-allied investments in their care.
He mandated them to minimise crisis between farmers and herders in the country by de-escalating conflicts through the use of mechanisms of mediation such as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in settlement of disputes.
While congratulating the newly-trained personnel at the Passing Out Parade (POP) after an 8-week intensive training, the corps’ helmsman admonished them to always observe the rules of engagement and code of conduct in their day-to-day operational engagements as there is nothing like accidental discharge in the Corps Standard Operating Procedure.
On security during the Yuletide season, the CG reassured the public of sufficient security as they go about the celebration, reiterating that officers and men of the corps have been adequately deployed to all the nooks and crannies of the country.
