Lack of Training, Certification and Education
One other major challenge of private security companies in Nigeria is
lack of adequate training of their staff (Abrahamsen & Williams, 2005;
Macucci, 1998). There is a general believe that private security guards
are poorly educated, school dropouts and indiscipline and lacking
knowledge of the industrial security practice. It is important to know
that the fact that someone is an ex-military, police or any of the
government security outfits does not confer a pre-requisite knowledge to
operate an industrial security company. The training, knowledge,
operational base/site and practice of public policing are entirely
different from that of industrial security. Therefore, for anyone to
venture into industrial security practice, there is need to blend the
knowledge acquired from public police practice with the principles and
practice to be acquired from industrial security training in order to be
competently qualified professionally to establish and own a private
security company (man-guarding) in Nigeria. This is currently lacking in
Nigeria due largely to government lackadaisical attitude towards the
activities and practice of the private security sector. Most private
security companies are always in the habit of recruiting people as
guards with very little or no training. Many of the private security
guards only certify their guards of physical fitness as prerequisite for
their recruitment without providing them with any kind of training. In
cases where trainings are given, it is ad hoc and perhaps inadequate to
expose the guard to the actual job requirement. Aside from the above
problems, an important issue which is a great concern to private
security companies is the lack of a body responsible for the
certification of private security operators (especially the directors
and managers), which makes it possible for every Dick and Harry to float
a PSC without proper pre-requisite knowledge and understanding of
industrial security. Plessis (2013) contends that certification would
essentially comprise a process whereby private security companies submit
an application to a certification body, showing that they are in
compliance with the standards in the Code of Conduct. Those companies
that fulfilled these requirements would be issued a certificate, which
would act as a ‘stamp of approval’ that the private security outfit is
tested, suitable and competent to render security services to the
public. An auditing team could then periodically evaluate this
certification to ensure they are being adhered to by PSCs. By only
hiring such companies, the public; especially beneficiaries of PSC
services are assured they have hired competent and capable hands to
tackle their security related issues.