Prohibition from Carrying Firearms
One of the greatest obstacles facing the operations of private security
company in Nigeria is the prohibition of the private security sector
from carrying firearms. PSCs in Nigeria are prohibited from carrying
firearms in their operations. This has resulted in the untimely death of
many private security guards in Nigeria (Ekhomu, 2005). It has also
reduced the recognition and entry of PSCs in Nigeria into the
international security market. The lack of legal framework for
permission to carry firearms has made PSCs to rely dependently on the
police in the execution of high risk contracts requiring firearms
protection. The legal framework in this regard needs to be
re-considered. In the United States it is revealed that most of these
jobs ( including government critical infrastructures or facilities) are
outsourced to private securities to protect because private security
companies are allowed to carry firearms (Strom, Berzofsky, Mas, Barrick,
Daye, Horstmann & Kinsey, 2010). In South Africa, Uganda, Angola,
United States and Europe, PSCs bear firearms and have been involved in
international military operations, for example, in Iraq, over 100,000
private armed security personnel participated under the United State
Defense, in Afghanistan over 65,000 private armed security personnel
were contracted, in Liberia, Angola, Sierra Leone etc., unnumbered
private armed security personnel were involved (Abrahamsen & Williams,
2005).