Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The National Commission for the Prohibition of Illegal Importation of Small Arms, Ammunition and Light Weapons (NATFORCE), has offered to assist the Police and other security agencies to end growing insecurity in the country.
NATFORCE’s Director General, Dr. Osita Okereke, told journalists, in Abuja, that the Commission has strengthened its structures across Nigeria to detect crime and react appropriately.
He said NATFORCE has also engaged well-trained undercover youngmen and women in all local governments of Nigeria that could track and burst criminal activities in Nigeria.
According to him, “We have directed our state executives to increase their workforce to 300 per local government for effective coverage.
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“We have also engaged all necessary machineries to conduct recruitment training for new intakes in all the six geo-political zones in Nigeria before September.”
He, however, appealed to the National Assembly members to expedite action on the NATFORCE Bill No. 639 of 2014, which, he said, has scaled through second reading in the House of Representatives.
He pointed out that only Nigeria and Gambia was the two countries that are yet to pass the Commission bill out of 16 Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member countries.
Meanwhile, the NATFORCE boss has distanced the Commission from a group he identified as Importers Association of Nigeria (IMAN) Special Taskforce, insisting they are fake and extortionists.
He asked security agencies to clamp down on the group and save innocent Nigerians from unnecessary extortions.
He also encouraged Nigerians to be vigilant and report suspected fraudulent activities to the appropriate security agencies for prosecution