To ensure the safety of school children, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Lagos State Command, has unveiled an all-female squad to tackle rising cases of kidnapping, cultism and bullying in schools.

At the passing out parade of the Squad held recently at the Command Headquarters in Alausa, Ikeja, the Commandant, Eweka Edenabu Douglas Okoro, said the Squad was saddled with the specific role of combating nefarious activities by school children.

He said the Squad was also expected to carry out awareness campaigns against nefarious activities being perpetrated by students against their peers on one hand, and by criminals against students and their tutors on the other hand.

Okoro said the establishment of the Squad was a directive by the NSCDC Commandant General, Ahmed Abubakar Audi, designed under the School Safety Initiative to eradicate kidnapping, cultism, bullying, rape and gangsterism being perpetrated among school children.

“The NSCDC Lagos State Command, Female Squad numbering 28 are well trained arms-carrying personnel, who have been carefully selected from various divisions, units and departments across the state Command to be embedded in the special Squad having gone through fresh, tactical, psychological, intellectual, dogged, rugged and rigorous training for a period of six weeks to combat the insecurity menace in our schools,” he said.

Okoro urged the state government to continuously support the Command to achieve more, saying with the new Squad and its tactical and operational teams, the Command was poised to reduce insecurity in the state to the barest minimum.

He charged members of the Squad to be guided by the Corps’ code of conduct and standard operating procedure while discharging their duties. (The Guardian)