The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on Friday unveiled an additional uniform for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) at the Ministry’s Headquarters in Abuja, even as he urged to hit the ground running on its known terrain for effectiveness and smarter service delivery.
Aregbesola, while making further clarification on the additional uniform of the Navy blue trouser with a white top and branded red collar, said:
“This uniform will be worn only on Tuesday. For proper communication and information management it is good for me to say very clearly that the NSCDC has not changed its uniform. What we are doing today is to add to the set of uniforms already in use in the NSCDC.
“I have to make this clarification clear because we are too eager for sensationalism and in rush to push information into the public domain, we care very little about credibility and accuracy of our information.
“We are here today to unveil additional uniform for NSCDC which the officers will wear on Tuesday and it is an addition to the set of uniforms in the array. The specificity of this uniform as you can see has been displayed by the Commandant General of the Corps, Mr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi.”
While tasking the Corps, the Minister, said, our expectation is that this additional uniform will add to your effectiveness, bring about full-service delivery and general efficiency in the discharge of our duty to our fatherland.
In a remark, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Shuaib Belgore, thanked the Minister for his approval of the additional uniform even as he stressed that he (the Minister) had directed that all the paramilitary outfits in the ministry should look smarter and sharper in the discharge of their duties.
Answering questions at the sideline after the unveiling exercise, the Commandant General (CG) of NSCDC, Mr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, acknowledged that the new form is an addition to its array of its outfits.
He said: “We already have some arrays of uniforms, this is an additional one and you can see the features are very distinct with white top, red branded collar and blue trouser.
On the import of the Tuesday outlook, according to him, he said it is geared towards encouraging, strengthening and promotion of professional in the service, adding that the uniform will be worn on Tuesday as number C uniform by officers.
The white colour, according to him, symbolizes peace which he said further reinforces the adoption of what is known as its non-kinetic strategy, meaning that you we use reconciliation, peace building and peace advocacy.
Beaming with excitement, he said: “This additional uniform no doubt will stand us out in any gathering and it is meant to further boost the morale professionalism, pride and commitment effectiveness of the Corps personnel.
“It also reflects the civility and character, the peace nature of the Corps personnel, depicting commitment in defending the defenceless.