The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Oyo State Command, has trained 150 new desk officers from its Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU) to tackle insecurity in the state.

The NSCDC Commandant in the state, Iskiku Akinsanya, while declaring a two-day training open on Tuesday in Ibadan, urged the officers to tackle the current security challenges in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training has, as its theme, “Counter-Terrorism as Panacea to Curbing Security Challenges in Nigeria: the NSCDC Perspective’’.

He said that the NSCDC Commandant-General, Abdullahi Mohammadu, had mandated all the state commandants to tighten security and bring back the glory of the corps.

Akinsanya, who stated that the corps’ CTU had been in existence in the last 10 years, stressed the need for training the officers of the unit on new ways of tackling the increasing spate of insecurity in the country.

The commandant said that the training had become imperative in order to address the issues of kidnapping, herder/farmers’ crises and other security challenges in the state and the country at large.

“We cannot do it alone and we feel NSCDC’s CTU should work harder to ensure that the insecurity facing the country is brought to the barest minimum.

“NSCDC has counter-terrorism units in all the 33 local governments and 35 local council development areas (LCDAs) in the state so that we can have timely information on security challenges and adequately nip them in the bud.

“NSCDC is the luckiest organisation that has its men and officers trained by virtually all agencies, not only in Nigeria but also outside the country,’’ Akinsanya said.

The commandant said that the personnel of the corps, who were the resource persons at the training, had earlier been sponsored for training in countries like Pakistan, Russia, India and United States of America.

He urged the participants to put into practice the knowledge gained from the training.

In his remarks, the CTU Commandant in the state, Assistant Corps Commandant Akande Akintayo, said that the training was timely, especially now that the country was battling with banditry, insurgency, kidnapping and other social vices.

Akintayo said that the state had experienced increased crime rate, particularly regarding individuals and groups terrorising their ancestral homes.

He stressed the need for NSCDC to develop a robust internal policy to train its CTU personnel in order to meet the current security challenges facing the country.

Akintayo called for more synergy and team work among various security agencies in the country in order to overcome the security challenges.

“Counter-terrorism, also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practice of military tactics, techniques and strategy that government, military and other law enforcement agencies use to combat terrorism,’’ he said.

One of the participants, Assistant Superintendent of Corps Christiana Unuofin, said that the training would equip them with new ways of handling various security issues in the country.