By Matthew Denis
The Director-General, National Task Force to Combat Illegal Importation/Smuggling of Arms, Ammunition, Light and Chemical Weapons (NATFORCE), Osita Okereke has said the commission has capacity to employ 270, 900 unemployed Nigerians.
He added that 350 jobs will be created in each of the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the federation as soon as its operations have constitutional backing.
Okereke stated this during an interview with journalists shortly after addressing the taskforce squad on training at the Youths Camp, Eiyenkorin, Ilorin, Kwara State on Thursday.
He said, “The jobs will ensure effective policing in communities as the various security forces have failed in their efforts to safeguard lives and properties. We will retrieve and recover all illegal arms and weapons to make Nigeria crime free once again.
“We are not going to be a liability to Nigeria but will generate revenue for government through our operations. Trillions can be generated through establishment of weaponry industries,” the commission boss pointed out.
According to him, each local government will have at least 350 NATFORCE personnel trained and deployed to the localities to ensure that proliferation of small arms and illegal weapons are checked to end frequent communal clashes and killings in parts of the country.
The DG further said: “Some villages in Nigeria have no police posts. Our men will effectively provide security in those localities. “
He explained that the taskforce a Public Private Partnership arrangement with the Federal Government was inaugurated in 2010.
“This commission is under ECOWAS and the treaty was signed in Nigeria in 2009, of which the bill has been passed in 14 Countries but Nigeria and Gambia are yet to sign it. We are lobbying for the bill to be passed at the Senate.
“We have been struggling for the passage of the bill at the National Assembly though some cabals are working against it. President Buhari is the president of ECOWAS and I believe once the Red Chamber passes it he will sign it into Law immediately,” he stated.
The DG, however, noted that the N30,000 minimum wage proposed by the labour unions in the country is grossly inadequate for the workforce given the rising cost of goods and services.
