The Lagos State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps on Thursday embarked on a one-day training programme for its officers and stakeholders.
The idea is to train and sensitise them on the Corps Code of Conduct for the forthcoming February election.
The state NSCDC Commandant, Gabriel Abafi, in his opening speech, said: “The NSCDC is mandated to carry out a general security duty position in national assignments, such as general elections.
“Thus, the Corps shall deploy various techniques in order to ensure effective monitoring during the election.”
The Commandant further said part of the conduct of the NSCDC officials was that they should not identify with any political party or members.
Abafi said: “Our men are also not supposed to handle any electoral materials. They are to ensure that electoral materials are escorted to only authorised or designated centres. And must not be involved in collation of votes.”
According to Abafi, in order to achieve these objectives, every member of the Corps would be given a tag and a secret sign, which would be used to identify NSCDC personnel.
He noted that anybody could impersonate an NSCDC officer, but the secret sign, known only to genuine officers, would give impersonators away.
He added: “Uniform is just a material sewn and worn by anybody.”
The Chairman, School of Management and Security, who is also President of Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, Dr. Ona Ekhomu, commended the initiative of the NSCDC in coming up with such an event.
Ekhomu, who was the chairman of the occasion, said: “For an election to be credible, it has to be free and fair.
“Nigeria plays a very important role in the world and the freedom and signage of the election will send a signal to the world that we are indeed responsible people.”
He urged the Corps to play a very vital role at a crucial time like this in Nigeria in order to help the country achieve its objectives in terms of communication and discharge of duties before, during and after the elections.
G.K. Hamzat of the Federal Road Safety Corps, while making his remark, said: “Uniformed agencies shouldn’t be found discussing any political issues during the election.
“They should not underrate any personnel in uniform, be it Boys Scout or others.
“This is because the underrated agency may be of vital use in giving necessary information.”
John Ema, the Deputy Director of the National Orientation Agency, the guest lecturer, said: “The election process doesn’t lie in the hands of the Independent National Electoral Commission agency alone, but on all the necessary security agents!
“This is because the security agents, in order to help our country, must do everything to ensure, not just a violence free election, but also a free and fair one.”
Ema said that the security agencies should ensure election process was done without any sense of creating riot or trouble.
They should also ensure political campaigns were done with no sentiment and ensure proper conducts in all manners that would not destroy public trust in them.
He urged the media to give a balance report, avoid being used as a tool for propaganda and make sure that detailed and accurate report about events before, during and after the election were recorded.
A representative from the Independent National Electoral Commission, Alozie Alphonsus, said the election process had commenced since 2014, adding that it was why different strategies had been implemented like the Permanent Voter Cards, which enables every citizens to vote, creating polling units for voters, so that people will not vote in different location at a time.
Alphonsus said: “With all these, we hope security agencies will ensure that people do not vote in different locations!”