An Appraisal on the Role of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in the Reduction of Vandalism of Oil Pipelines in the Niger Delta Region

Abstract

Vandalism is an act that disrupts the progress of communities, plays down on the integrity of the people and jeopardize the economy of the nation. The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps is a Para-military agency of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Part of its obligations is to protect and prevent vandalism of major government infrastructure including the oil pipelines. The study is geared towards the measures employed and the achievements by the corps in the reduction of oil pipeline vandalism. This paper is solution oriented rather than dealing with causal factors of vandalism. Reviewed literature brought the awareness of various achievements of the Corps in this regard. Statistical analysis of anti-vandalism operation, list of recovered items from the vandals and bunkers make the study most understandable. However, the Corps is considered here as positivist and to backup this claim, exchange theory of George Homan is employed to explain the sacrificial effort of the NSCDC personnel on the one hand, and the security of the good Nigerians, the oil pipelines and the Corps’s alliance to the government of her father land on the other hand. Since vandalism is in itself a crime, liable to 45 years of jail term and it occurs as a result of personal choice, then it can be controlled and eradicated without much enforcement of punishment but through raising the awareness on the danger involved through various government institutions and agencies. By so doing, the perception of wastefulness will be eschewed, while the spirit of reservation and hard work will be inculcated in the people. To stand the taste of time, with regard to her zero tolerance to compromise, the Corps should retain its professional ethics to improve upon her standard of performance. Other measures for the prevention of vandalism are suggested in the main text.

Keyword: Vandalism, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Vandal, Professional ethnics, Alliance.