The Zamfara State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, has declared open the training of 1st Batch of 50 Community Protection Guards, CPGs.

Addressing newsmen at the Command’s training field, the Corps Commandant, Sani Mustapha said the guards are being trained on security techniques.

According to him, they will be trained on self defense, Information gathering and sharing, pointing out that after the training, hotlines numbers will be made available to them for distress calls.

He assured that the Corps will respond quickly.

“Considering the incessant security challenges in the state, they need to be trained to perfectly perform their constitutional responsibility,” he added.

The Community Protection Guards, CPG, is a local security outfit established to guard rural and urban areas of the state.

Mustapha said that the Zamfara State NSCDC Command has designed formidable strategies to adequately protect Gusau, the state capital, stressing that patrol teams are working round the clock.

Speaking further, the NSCDC commandant said there are 38 Private Guard Companies, PGCs, in the state, adding that the companies always send their guards for training and retraining.

He further stated that two of the PGCs refused to renew their licenses and were shut down as a result.

Mustapha called on the public not to engage guards from unregistered PGCs, saying that most of their personnel are informants.