Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has issued operational licences to 93 Private Guard Companies (PGCs) in 2023 with a view to strengthening national security.

The NSCDC Commandant General (CG), Ahmed Audi, said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the Corps Headquarters, yesterday, in Abuja.

Audi said that from the total number of 1,412 PGCs registered by the Corps, 92 were sealed across the country due to several operational violations but had 24 of the defaulting PGCs later unsealed in the year under review.

“After the sealing, they were instructed to comply and rectify the reasons for which they were sanctioned and after satisfying some conditions stipulated by law, we unsealed 24,” he said.

According to him, licensing, supervising, training and monitoring of PGCs operations is one of NSCDC’s major mandate of which the Corps has been able to carve to fulfil.

Audi said: “We have removed quackery in the profession and now have ex-service men, including those from the intelligence security community, who have now joined the industry to make it more professional and robust,”