Worried by the rising crime waves and growing public concerns, the Federal Government has approved community policing through a new security group, Vigilante Group of Nigeria, VGN.
Officials of the group confirmed that thousands of responsible locals will be trained and equipped to deal with crime surge, which continue to paint a gory picture about the country. The VGN will work with the Nigerian Police Force, NPF and the State Security Service, SSS which is said to have commenced the screening of recruits.
The leadership of the VGN met yesterday in Abuja, a meeting officials said was aimed at ratifying the modalities of operation of the organisation. An official told The Nation that the leadership of the group is likely to meet with President Umaru Yar’Adua soon.
A source close to the meeting said that a lawyer, Mallam Usman Mohammed was yesterday appointed as the National Commander of the VGN, while President Umaru Yar Adua remains the Grand Patron of the group.
‘The VGN is a people-driven security arrangement which will ensure that the people are active in securing their lives, their property and protecting the totality of the environment. The VGN will be present in each Nigerian village, it will involve decent men and women and a lot of volunteers will be active
participants in the process, including but not limited to professionals and artisans alike, a retired Army Senior Officer who is one of the VEN officers told The Nation yesterday.
He said the establishment of the VGN is in line with ‘recommendations of the United Nations, UN on community, public security and safety’ adding that the ‘police is trying its best in a very harsh and hostile environment’ adding that effective security of the country needs the collaboration of groups like the VGN.
He said many Nigerians are ignorant of basic security issues and that the VGN with the support of the federal and state governments will provide adequate security training for decent people in the country in the bid to ensure community participation in the entire business of security in the country.
The Nation gathered that the idea of the VGN was sold to the Federal government in 1999 during the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The source hinted that though the VGN did not take firm roots until mid-last year when President Yar Adua expressed keen interest in supporting and giving the organisation full legal and legislative backing, yet many states in the core North have adopted the VGN as part of the operating security mechanism in their domains.
According to sources, the VGN is to be established in six geo-political zones of the country with its headquarters in Abuja. ‘The VGN will recruit young men and ladies in hundreds of thousands across the country but each zone will have a zonal commander who will coordinate the activities of the VGN in each region.
‘The VGN is to recruit at least 50,000 young men and women in the six South West states alone. The organisation will work with the State Security Service, SSS, the Nigerian Police and other relevant security agencies in the combat of crime. All the members will be locals, they will be people who understand their environment, the culture and tradition of the locality. They will gather information and ensure criminals are nabbed. Those arrested will be handed over to the Nigerian police after a formal report have been lodged with the SSS, ’ Alhaji Isa Lawal Akintolu, the Commander of the VGN in the South West told The Nation. He said all those recruited will be insured against deaths and bodily harm.
The 73 year old Akintolu said the VGN in each of the six geo-political zones was mandated to submit three names of ‘very credible’ people in the regions as Board of Trustees. He named Bishop David Oyedepo of Winners Chapel, Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu and Secretary General of the National Council for Islamic Affairs, NCISA, Dr Lateef Adegbite, as the three names submitted on behalf of the South West for instance. He said all the elected governors in the six regions of the Nigerian federation will form the Advisory Board of the VGN.
The people recruited will be ‘trained in physical fitness and combat readiness’ and that some of them will be ‘Elite Corps’ who will be professionals that would be trained on basic art of personal and public safety.
He said the VGN is happy with the ‘commitment of President Umaru Yar Adua who realises the need to involve local people in the security of lives and property.” He stated ‘The President sees security not as a gift to be given out to the people, but rather as the property of the people themselves and that they should be involved in the entire process of security. This is what gave birth to the idea of the VGN which will work with the police and the SSS.’
He said the VGN borrowed the idea from the ancient culture of many ancestral communities in Nigeria when hunters and villagers from such settings were directly involved in public security.
Some of the documents made available to The Nation indicated that ‘as far as possible, the organisation shall ensure that the vigilante group go on patrol, wear uniforms with their name tags displayed thereon, the uniform of the vigilante shall as far as practicable be the same colour and texture throughout the country, they (some) will be equipped with arms and ammunition and the vigilante members may carry traditional arms.’