Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has told officers and men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and their counterparts in the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Correctional and the Federal Fire Service (FFS) to upgrade themselves academically because they will no longer be elevated just for passing promotion examinations.
Tunji Ojo, who advised personnel of all the paramilitary agencies under his ministry‘s supervision to attend mandatory continuous professional development programmes in line with the career progression policy document of the federal government.
The minister announced the establishment of a team tagged: Paramilitary Brain Trust
He made the announcement at the presentation of 12 books co-authored by the commandant- general of the corps, Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi and Prof Tyoor Terhemba in Abuja yesterday.
Tunji-Ojo said the Paramilitary Brain Trust would be handled by public officers and professionals who would provide technical advice to the government through research and other academic endeavours.
Tunji-Ojo who commended the academic prowess of Audi, linked the latter‘s investment in education to what he termed as „his very impressive innovations at the NSCDC used in tackling insecurity, vandalism amongst others and charged his subordinates to follow suit.
While referring the paramilitary personnel to officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), he said: “The best of people you find in the FBI, MI6 all over the world in CIA, are all alumni of some of the best Institutions in the world.
He promised to personally ensure that all agencies under his ministry‘s supervision have a functional library for research.
Earlier, Audi said five of the books were completely written by him while the other seven were co-authored by associates.
Audi, who explained that his passion for excellence, maximum service delivery and his quest to impact knowledge on the nation‘s security structure, forced him into writing the books, which he started five years ago.
