The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has advised members of the public to desist from hiring private security guards from unregistered security companies.

The NSCDC Commandant in Plateau, Mr Felix Gbolade, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos on Tuesday. Gbolade said that the nation’s experience with insurgency should caution people from hiring strangers as their guards.

“It is illegal to employ any unlicensed or unregistered private guard. “Many a times, such employers have very little knowledge about the individual even when you ask them to provide referees, how do you ascertain the character of such persons refereeing them. “So, it is wise to get guards from registered and licensed private security companies because such employers have indepth knowledge of the kind of person they have employed,’’ he said. He said such employees did not pose as a threat to people or property they have been assigned to protect.