Army GOC to NSCDC officers: ‘Don’t waste too much bullets while killing suspects’

The Acting General Officer Commanding of the Nigerian Army’s 7th Division, Victor Izegwu, has cautioned operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) undergoing training on weapon handling and proficiency to use minimal amount of ammunition while shooting to kill any identified enemy of the state.

He said the essence of military marksmanship was not to use multiple rounds of ammunition to kill a single target.

“Always ensure that only one bullet goes to the enemy that it is aimed at,”, he said. Mr. Izegwu, a brigadier general, said. “We don’t want you to use 20 rounds in killing a suspect or somebody who is tampering with our national assets.”

Mr. Izegwu spoke at the graduation ceremony of select 93 operatives of the NSCDC after completing a two-week refresher training on weapons handling offered them by soldiers of the Nigerian Army.

The training is being carried out nationwide following a federal government’s directive that the NSCDC should begin to carry arms like other paramilitary sister services. The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, according to the GOC, had okayed a training opportunity for the civil police nationwide.

The GOC said the training was aimed at ensuring that the NSCDC operatives were prepared for a post Boko Haram insurgency as they would soon be deployed to areas liberated by the Nigerian soldiers, as well as to protect personnel currently carrying out oil prospecting in the northeast.

“This training is the representation of the directives of the Chief of Army Staff from the army headquarters to the division that we should enhance capacity of security agencies in the state especially as we are drawing down on our counterinsurgency in the state to prepare them for their constitutional responsibility effectively”, the GOC 7 Division.

“I can assure you that this weapon proficiency training will enhance the trainees capacity and build on the professionalism which the civil defence corp require to carry out their role effectively in the state.

“I am equally glad that this training is aimed at enhancing the output of of the civil defender especially coming at a time the president has given the directives that the lake Chad region should be exploited for oil reserve and other natural resources that will enhance the economy of the country.

“It is timely that we have organised this training because one of the jobs of the civil defenders of our great nation is to police the pipelines and also provide security for oil exploration activities.

“You are now better equipped with the proficiency in weapons handling as you have demonstrated for us to see this morning. And I am quite sure that all the task that comes your way, you are going to discharge them with minimum casualty on your side and also you are going to use the lessons you have drawn from this course to ensure that only one bullet goes to the enemy that it is aimed at.

The NSCDC officers demonstrated their proficiency by dismantling and coupling of weapons like AK47, MG3 and Nationale Fabrique (NF).

The Commandant of the NSCDC in Borno state, Abdullahi Ibrahim, added that the training was routine and also aimed at increasing the personnel’s proficiency, especially now that the Boko Haram insurgents have been wiped out of the most captured areas.

“Now that we want to move to liberated areas, there is need for our personnels to be trained in weapon handling,” Mr. Ibrahim said.