Ahmed Audi, the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, claims that his organisation has embraced President Bola Tinubu’s policy of “zero tolerance” for oil theft and has instructed oil thieves to leave the nation or face retaliation.
He emphasised that oil thieves would not have it easy with his men, saying that President Bola Tinubu has a tough stance against oil theft.
At Course 10’s passing out parade on Monday in Abuja, Audi gave a speech.
In the ongoing battle against oil theft, he declared that the NSCDC, which he led, would not tolerate any personnel compromise.
The oil thieves must be caught, so Audi told his men to use all available means to do so.
Don’t forget, he urged, that we are the leading organisation in the defence of vital resources. Fuel pipelines are one of the national infrastructure components that must be safeguarded. The President’s position on oil thefts is well known. No concessions should be made.
“You must commit to reducing and, if possible, eliminating oil theft. Oil thieves and those who damage our pipelines must be apprehended; otherwise, we will catch them. We warned those who wanted to continue launching attacks on our pipelines to relocate to other nations, or else we would go after them and arrest them all.
Additionally, Audi warned employees not to discharge accidentally and promised strict punishment for those found at fault.
A standard of operations now governs our service-related activities, according to Audi. You’re going to face a court martial. Thus, the service’s discipline is upheld. Accidental discharge is forbidden by this service.
“You will incur the wrath of the SOP if you commit an error and get trigger-happy, killing a citizen. When using your rifle, kindly use caution. You are taught to use a rifle responsibly and, unless instructed otherwise, avoid killing. So, if someone is trying to kill you on the battlefield, you can only act to stop them.
While this is going on, some officers who joined the NSCDC in 2012 with a Higher National Diploma have complained that they haven’t progressed since they started working there 11 years ago or that they have been stagnated.
In an open letter to the President and the National Assembly, the concerned officers bemoaned the fact that many new officers hired after them received promotions.
We are using this medium to ask President Bola Tinubu, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Head of Service, and all well-meaning Nigerians to look into our problem in the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (2012 HND holders intake).
“The question that needs an answer from whoever it may concern is: Why are the 2012 intakes, who are HND holders in the NSCDC, being treated worse than their counterparts in sister agencies under the same Ministry of Interior?
“We joined the NSCDC in 2012 as NCE holders and recruits with the Inspector of Corps rank (Level 7).
As required by public service regulations, we took the confirmation and promotion examination in 2014, but despite passing the Compro, we were neither promoted nor advanced after passing the exam.
“Fast forward to 2016, there was another replacement exercise, and all officers hired then as Assistant Supretendent of Corps II were all given automatic promotion to the next rank, while all HND holders hired from 2012 still remained inspectors(Level 7). When the NSCDC recently implemented the removal of the HND/BSC dichotomy, the same change that had been made in sister paramilitary organisations under the Ministry of Interior since 2016, HND holders who had been hired since 2012 were still inspectors.
When we were all hired together in 2012, the majority of our B.sc. counterparts are now hanging the rank of Superintendent (Eagle), but up to 95% of us, HND holders, are still on one star as of this year, 2023.
