Plateau, Israeli Experts Train over 1,000 Youths on Counter Terrorism

Posted by African Examiner Uncategorized Thursday, December 12th, 2013

Agabus Pwanagba, Jos

In its frantic efforts to curtail the activities of criminals which had hitherto led to loss of lives in various communities in Plateau State, the State had over 2 years ago introduced a neighbourhood watch “Operation Rainbow”, which in collaboration with the International Security Academy had trained over 1000 persons in order to improve their operational capabilities to cope with violent crime and terrorism in their communities.

The Coordinator of Operation Rainbow, AVM Bala Danbaba (rtd) told journalists on Wednesday at the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre in Jos, where over 500 Muslim and Christian youths from the 17 Local Governments in the State are undergoing training on how to mitigate and overcome violent crimes and terrorism threats “The Israeli Approach to Cope Better with Homeland Security Issues”.

According to him, operatives of Operation Rainbow who have finished training and are in the field will not carry arms, saying their duty is to observe any strange movement or persons in their localities and report to the wardheads or security agents or even send text message to the headquarters of Operation Rainbow.
“There are those of them that are allowed by law to carry arms, like the police, civil defence, State Security Service, Immigration and NDLEA, but the rest are nit allowed to carry arms”, he explained.He added that, 30 of the youths were taken to Israel for training and they are expected to train other members of the Neighbourhood watch.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of International Security Academy- Israel, Mirza David said, “The preparatory training is geared towards enhancing the participants ability to protect themselves and their families.Adding that, “Through professional and simple training, they will attain a level of self defence and response abilities that will save lives when necessary.

David further explained that another objective of the training is, “To enable participants to test their fitness and ability to in the protection field.He said, “A criminal and terrorist’s most effective tool is fear, do not let the bad guys terrorize you.Stressing that, lack of self confidence turns people into potential victims of terrorist.The Chief Executive Officer said, “The main objective since 1987 is to assist colleagues in friendly countries to establish their training their own training systems for improving and enhancing their countries capabilities for struggle against violent crime and terrorism”.