The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has licensed over 1,200 Private Guard Companies (PGCs) and de-registered over 100 nationwide.

The Commandant-General of the NSCDC, Dr. Ahmed Audi, made the disclosure while speaking at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Sunday.

According to Audi, the corps has introduced stringent measures in the running and ownership of private security companies.

He said that the corps had also trained and supervised the activities of some PGCs, adding that the corps had withdrawn the licenses of some of the private guard outfits, due to some issues.

The commandant-general said that the corps had trained over 4,000 PGC operatives this year and had planned to leverage on that to bring sanity to the business.

“Between now and the end of the year, the corps would train additional 3,000 to 4,000 operatives for the private guard companies.”

He said that PGCs had gained popularity nationwide, noting that the NSCDC would continue to withdraw the licenses of PGCs not meeting operational expectations.

“We have had reasons to withdraw the licenses of many because we monitor, license, regulate, train and supervise them.

“We have closed down almost 100 of such companies who for one default or the other and are unable to operate.

“We seal them until they sort out the issues before we open them up and allow them to operate,” Audi said.