Vigilante Group Of Nigeria: Things You Should Know

This article is about the Vigilante Group of Nigeria and the things you should know about them. The Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) is a grassroots-based community associations whose main aim is to secure lives and property and any service that the community might request for its development and prevention of calamities. This paramilitary organization started from village, wards, Local Governments, and State Groups and later merged at the Federal level for more effective planning and execution of their activities in securing lives and property.

HISTORY OF THE VIGILANTE GROUP OF NIGERIA (VGN)

The Establishment of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) could be traced to the year 1870, it was established to put an end to the rising wave of criminal activities by complementing the efforts of security agencies. All sorts of vices ranging from murder, rape, theft, etc, were being perpetrated wantonly. Consequently, elders in Nigeria thought it necessary that civil defence organization should be reinstated. Thereafter the Vigilante Group of Nigeria was established to assist the Nigeria Police to protect lives and properties and prevent crimes. Therefore, the entire members of the VGN have irrespective of their religious tribal and ethnic differences firmly resolved to assist the police to combat crime and to maintain law and order.

The main focus of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria is to protect lives and properties and repel crimes as earlier stated. They are also obligated to hand over criminals and law offenders to the appropriate law enforcement agencies in Nigeria. They provide security across the country for different reasons, and may also work as bodyguards for people who require their services when the need arises. Over the years, they have proved to be very effective as far as security in the neighbourhood is concerned.

All through the years of their establishment, their relationship with the relevant government security agencies such as the Police and the military in the country has been very cordial and one thing that clearly defines them is their connection to the grass roots. Because of how well they have mastered their various communities, they have been able to understand the nitty gritty of their job functions and most of them operate in the night. As opposed to the mode of operation of top government security outfits, members of vigilante groups in the country are never transferred from one place to another, instead, they stay for as long as they are in active service to their various communities which they live in.

MODE OF OPERATION OF THE VIGILANTE GROUP OF NIGERIA 

The Vigilante Group of Nigeria as aforementioned, is a national voluntary organization. Membership of the organization is made up of people who reside in the community where they operate. Recruits are taken through a series of tests to determine the capabilities of the individuals and to know if they would eventually make the grade into the organization. Once the recruit passes the test they have been given, they are then deployed to their community from where they are to operate. They have various inner groups in the organization like the special squad, anti-robbery squad, to mention but a few.

As opposed to popular opinion, majority of the members of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria are educated. The constitution of the group states that only people 18 years of age and above are eligible to join their ranks and the minimum qualification requirement for membership into the group is First Leaving School Certificate, which is widely known as school cert.

OBJECTIVES OF THE VIGILANTE GROUP OF NIGERIA (VGN) 

• To assist the police and other law enforcement agencies to curb crime
• To protect and preserve public property
• Assist the Police in crowd control and maintenance of peace at public functions where the need arises.
• With the clearance of the Police, assist public agencies in the protection of their establishment plants and equipment
• To give information to the police and other security agencies of criminals or wanted persons residing in the ward or Local Government
• To locate the permanent or temporary residences or receivers of stolen properties and 419 practitioners for the purposes of enabling the police to arrest or monitor their activities.
• To make positive and useful contribution to the advancement, progress and well-being of the community by mobilizing and assisting in communal development efforts.
• To abide by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and all relevant laws and bye-laws.

CHALLENGES FACED BY THE VIGILANTE GROUP OF NIGERIA

The main challenge faced by the Vigilante Group of Nigeria is that of adequate funding. Being a non-governmental organization, they are not as funded as the relevant government security outfits and this to an extent, hinders their effectiveness.

They require funding from well meaning Nigerians to keep running the organization to the best of their abilities. They also do reach out to the various governments in the States they operate in for assistance. Once the issue of funding is addressed, it will help in buying more uniforms, getting more equipment needed to make their jobs easier and paying their workers well and in time too.

VIGILANTE GROUP OF NIGERIA SALARY

Not much information is known about the salary of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria. The closest thing to knowing about their salary structure came about when there was a protest by the Anambra State branch of the group against non-payment of their members for close to eight months as reported by Daily Post, an online News and Media website in Nigeria in March, 2016 and it was gathered that the salary as at that time was ₦10,000 monthly.