By Kelechi Ogunleye
Patronage
Abuja, May 11, 2018 (NAN) Mr Davidson Akihimien, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Private Security Practitioners of Nigeria (ALPSPN), has advised clients in the country to desist from patronising unlicensed private security guard companies.
Akihimien gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.
He said it was an offence for clients to request the services of an unlicensed private guard company.
“We have published a list of licensed security guard companies so that the public will know them,” he said.
The chairman said that the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) had the mandate to close down unlicensed private security guard companies.
“What we do at our level is to bring information to the doorsteps of the NSCDC about companies that are operating illegally,” he said.
Akihimien further said that the association in collaboration with the NSCDC had formed task forces in all states of the federation to rid the profession of quacks.
The chairman said that the standard rule of sharing premiums received from private security guard companies’ clients was 60 percent of it should be given to the guards as salary, and 40 per cent should go to the company as administrative charge.
“But most of the amounts paid to the guard companies are very poor because of the poor economic situation in the country, “he said.
He also said that the association had made it mandatory that all private security guard companies registered their staff with the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Akihimien also said that the association was working toward standardising and professionalising the industry where people would be encouraged to take the profession as a career.
“The industry is an evolving one.It is robust but it has not reached the stage where people take it as a career. But we are working toward that,” he said. (NAN)
KAYC/AMY
Edited by Abdullahi Yusuf