The Benue State Government is considering adopting the state-backed Benue State Civil Protection Guards (BSCPG) into the proposed state police if the bill establishing state police is passed and signed into law.
Governor Hyacinth Alia’s Special Adviser on Internal Security, Joseph Har, disclosed this in a telephone interview with LEADERSHIP, saying the guards were adequately trained and already performing policing functions across the state.
Har said the outfit had recorded successes in security operations and maintained a presence across local government areas, wards, sectors, zones and other levels of administration.
“The Benue State Civil Protection Guards outfit, what they are already doing is state policing. They are formidable, there are results and successes,” he said.
The security adviser added that the guards were involved in virtually every security operation, arguing that retaining and integrating them into the proposed state police would be more appropriate than recruiting an entirely new workforce.
“There is no operation that is done without them. They are in every local government, unit, ward, sector, zonal, state levels. Already they are doing state policing. If those people are already doing it, why go and recruit other people into state police? That is number one,” Har said.
He also warned that abandoning personnel already trained in the use of firearms could create security risks, particularly if they became disgruntled after being disengaged.
“Number two, the danger of not using them, people are trained with the use of arms and if you train them well with the use of guns and you abandon them, what do you want them to do? If they become disgruntled people, how can you handle them? If they become disgruntled, can you withstand them?” he asked.
Har recalled that when the Alia administration assumed office, there were calls for the disbandment of the livestock and volunteer guards established under the administration of former Governor Samuel Ortom.
He said the government instead opted to profile the personnel, working with the police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to identify those with questionable backgrounds and subject them to rehabilitation.
“We said how can we sack them when they were trained. It is dangerous to ask them to go. We said instead of sacking them they should be profiled and we did that with the police and DSS and those with questionable characters were rehabilitated,” he said.
Har said the government would recommend the integration of the guards into the state police if the proposed legislation became law, although not all existing personnel might meet the requirements.
“With the reasons I gave you, we will adopt Benue State Civil Protection Guards (BSCPG) into state police if the state police bill passes into law. Some few of them may not qualify to join state police. This decision is not mine but as security adviser I will give strong advice,” he said.
He said the government had also established operational standards for the guards through training, a code of conduct, ethical guidelines and operational procedures.
“Again, we trained them effectively on code of conduct. We create code of conduct, ethics and we create them a tradition that is now a culture. We have operations manual. We have standard operating procedure,” he added.
According to him, 5,000 guards were officially commissioned last year, but the number has since declined because some personnel died, others voluntarily left to join forest guards, while some were dismissed.
He said the outfit currently had fewer than 5,000 personnel, comprising trained and untrained members.
Har disclosed that about 4,000 untrained guards had received instruction from personnel who underwent formal training, while the government brought in retired officers from the DSS, police, military and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to strengthen the outfit.
He said the involvement of retired security personnel had also improved relations between the guards and conventional security agencies, which initially regarded the guards as civilians.
“When we established guards some conventional security operatives were undermining them because they were civilians. But when we brought in retirees from security agencies to join the guards, there was respect because some of the retirees retired as senior security personnel,” he said.
Har advised state governments to consider engaging physically fit and willing retirees from security agencies when recruitment into state police begins.
“My advice is that if the state police bill is passed into law and recruitments commence, state governments should consider retirees of security agencies who are still strong and ready to work to join the state police,” he said.