Members of the National Youth Service Corps NYSC and officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC will henceforth be used by the League Management Company LMC to check violence hooliganism at the Nigeria Professional Football League venues throughout the federation.
The decision was taken following the mayhem that occurred during a derby between rivals Enyimba and Abia Warriors in Aba last Sunday.
According to a statement from the LMC chairman, Shehu Dikko, ” “The meeting held after the fracas endorsed a proposal by the LMC to create a volunteer stewards corps that will be made up of NYSC and NSCDC members , who will curtail violence in the stands.
“To this end, the LMC was mandated by the meeting to interface with the Director General of NYSC and that of the NSCDC to enlist the support and services of the agencies in ensuring orderliness match venues through effective stewardship.”
“It was also resolved that the NFF and LMC will open communication channels with the Police high command with a view to having continuous interface with the office of the Inspector-General of Police with the long term objective to set up a specialised police squad for football matches security management,” part of the statement reads.
Majority of the violence experienced in the NPFL were as a result of local rivalries and between clubs that share geographical proximity and have had running supremacy claims by their fans.
“In Lafia, it was a North Central derby between Nasarawa United and Plateau United, Katsina was a North West derby between Katsina United and Kano Pillars, while in Umuahia, we had the Abia derby between Abia Warriors and Enyimba International”, the statement said.
