By Abbanobi -Eku Onyekachi
Abuja
The Commandant General (CG), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence (NSCDC), Dr Ahmed Audi has told the senate not to establish any agency with the same and similar functions with the other.
Audi gave the advice to the senate at a public hearing organized by the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals Development, to deliberate on a Bill for an Act for Establishment of Nigeria Mines Rangers Services (NMRS) for the protection of solid minerals, sponsored by Snator Mohammed Onawo (PDP, Nasarawa South).
On his reasoning, the CG said that the NSCDC under his management is doing the same functions in the Bill, even as he maintained that the wise thing to do will be to empower the NSCDC, equip the organisation, to enable them function better.
“Creating an agency with the same function as NSCDC is just like duplicating functions and it will be very expensive, looking at the economic challenges the country is passing through. So the right thing to do is to empower and equip the NSCDC, for them to continue to perform their duties very well,” the CG advised.
Speaking further, he said establishment of an extra agency to do similar functions as others will be expensive, adding that the country has over the time been facing economic problems.
In his presentation, the CG, National Unity and Peace Corps (NUPC), Dr Chinedu Nneji, said that the Bill if passed into law will not only go a long way to give the mining industry its required protections, but will also generate enough revenue to sustain the country and the agency.
He challenged NSCD, by asking them, how much have they been able to generate for the country in performance of their duties. He spoke at length on the importance of the bill, urging senators to pass it into law.
In his speech, the chairman of the committee, Senator Ekong Sampson (PDP, Akwa Ibom South) underscored the importance of the Bill and urged senators and other stakeholders to have a critical look at it, for the interest of country. He said assured that anything that’ll make the country forward, the legislators will do that, even as he urged the all the stakeholders, including the military and paramilitary to collaborate in the fight against illegal miners.
