ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
The International Red Cross Society (IRCS) is currently training 200 special squads of the Bayelsa State Vigilante Service (BVS) on safety and emergencies.
Declaring the training open at the BVS secretariat in Yenagoa on Tuesday, Chairman, BVS, Doubiye Alagba, said the outfit partnered with the IRSC as part of the efforts to improve the safety of personnel of the vigilance service.
He said considering the nature of the job, which always puts the lives of the personnel on the line, it was imperative to provide the personnel with life-saving techniques during emergencies.
He pointed out that the personnel would be trained on first aid practice, safety and security, emergency response procedure and other life saving methodologies.
Alagba said: “The BVS takes matters of safety and the well-being of our personnel seriously and that is why we deem it fit to organise this training to expose our personnel to the rudiments of staying alive during operations.
“And as people who are always on the frontline, they need basic first aid and safety tips to get going during emergencies before they get adequate medical attention.”
Alagba, who commended Governor Douye Diri for prioritising security matters in the state, said the state government had been instrumental to the successes and breakthroughs made by the outfit in fighting crimes and criminality.
According to him, the vigilance service is working in partnership with other security agencies particularly the police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
He said they had been raiding criminals’ hideouts and hotspots and other notorious suburbs within the state capital, including the protection of lives and property of the people.
Alagba also issued a stern warning to cult members, robbers and other criminals in the state to desist from their nefarious activities or meet their Waterloo.
Alagba said the security outfit and other security agencies in the state were poised to rid the state of violent criminals wreaking havoc on the people, especially cultists and robbers.
He said the outfit had, in company with the police and civil defence, arrested cultists and kidnappers, warning that the state would be too hot for criminals who failed to turn a new leaf.
He also urged the people of the state to be wary of criminals who specialise in robbing the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards of bank customers lurking around most banks’ premises.
Alagba, who said security is everybody’s business, made passionate appeal to members of the public to volunteer useful information to enable the security forces in the state to apprehend criminals terrorising the people.
Speaking on behalf of the trainees, Mr. Isaac Enekeme, commended the vision of the leadership of the BVS in organising the programme, describing it as a practical demonstration that the outfit is concerned about the safety of lives and the general wellbeing of its personnel.