The Commandant of the Akwa Ibom State Command of the organisation, John Essien, who spoke with journalists, said they specifically needed the backing of the law to compliment the efforts of the relevant security agencies in apprehending bandits and the insurgents terrorising the country.

He also disclosed that they were at the National Assembly for a public hearing on a bill for an Act to establish the Nigerian Hunters Council of Nigeria.

According to him, “The bill has gone through the first and second reading, and the reason we are here is for the public hearing. As you can see, we have members across the entire villages. When you talk about the security challenges, if the opportunity is given to us, we can perform very well because as community-based officers, we know all the strangers in our environment and can easily identify those that are not from there. Maybe from there, you can find out what the person’s mission is in the area.

“That is the reason we are here to tell the government that we can do the job. I want to tell us that if the opportunity is given to hunters, the security challenges in the country would be minimised. If you look at our Facebook and social media pages, you would see that we have been doing a lot of work in arresting kidnappers and other criminals. With our presence and other security agencies, when we come together, it would make the job easier, and that is why we here today. We believe the government would not hesitate to give us a try.”