In this interview with KUNLE AKINRINADE, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Kings Guards Nigeria Limited, Sam Olaniran, shares the success story of the company and other related issues.
HOW has the journey been in the last 25 years of Kings Guards?
The grace of God has been great on the company. We started out as a very small company and security companies were not many in the country then. But just by the grace of God and the vision of the founders of the company, the company has been growing in leaps and bounds beyond the expectations of everybody. So it’s been great, although it was initially difficult, but the company has been growing from year to year. As at today, I am convinced that we are the leading security firm in the industry and the country. Our contemporaries are even finding out what Kings Guards is doing that is working for us. But it’s just the grace of God and the fact that we have great people working for the company. People that are very loyal, highly committed and dedicated and you know that the workforce of any company is its greatest asset. So, it has been challenging but we thank God that it has also been great for the company in terms of success.
What is the greatest challenges facing private security firms in the country?
Human beings are the ones we are managing and ours requires managing a whole lot of people. Most of them (guards) are not happy doing the job because they are trampled upon or looked down upon by people in the society. So you are bringing in people who are sad to secure other people’s lives and those of them you are bringing in are themselves not happy. They feel that everyone hates them and that the society has not been fair to them. Don’t forget that many of the guards are university graduates and they would still be treated like nobody. The private security industry is not the one that the society respects. So that’s the challenge. To have people that are not happy to work for the company and protect others in the society and by extension have a career, so that is the greatest challenge. But overtime, we have overcome that and we make it known to our guards that our company is where their dreams can be fulfilled and that is the reality.
So, how well has your company been able to transform the lives of unhappy guards?
It was not easy getting to that level. Now, people know that when they come to Kings Guards, they can be successful on the job and make a career out of it. Some of them have become General Managers, some are given scholarships and a lot of them get trained within and outside Nigeria. Human beings are wonderful creation of God and people can have their lives turned around to become better than what they never imagined when they are motivated through love. Now, we have many of our guards who actually want to work for the company and develop a career from the job.
What do you think is the perception of people about the services rendered by private security firms?
Our society does not care about security and that should not surprise anybody; you see a lot of people that do not understand what security is all about. They do not value the word ”security’; they do not want to pay for their own security. They just believe they can go to anywhere and recruit anybody on the street to take care of their security. A lot of people in the society actually look out for somebody who can open the gate, take care of generators and possibly clean their environment. You will be surprised that even high brow estates paying for security is an issue and if you are working with them (as private guard firm) you will face a lot of difficulty. So in the communities, people don’t even know what they want in terms of security. However, we have people who don’t take their security for granted.
What is the attraction for employing graduates as security guards?
I just told you that one of the challenges we have is human capital; about people that are not happy, people that believe they are doing a job they do not like. They are just doing it because they don’t have an option. And there is nobody that would want his or her child to graduate from a university and work as a guard. So when people ask us for university graduates I always ask them if they are prepared to pay for it, because having graduates as guards comes with commensurate remuneration. You don’t pay university graduates N14,000 and expect them to be loyal to you or protect you well. They could be earning N30,000 or N35,000 as clerks elsewhere and still be happy rather than work as guards. So, the attraction must be great; and it’s just the love of the job that makes them to secure employment in a security company. Some of them also don’t want to be burden to their parents who had toiled to sponsor their university education, hence, they seek employment as guards. But when they come, what we normally do is to give them orientation about the security industry and what is required of them to perform well on the job by telling them about the opportunities inherent in the job. We had somebody who came in as a guard and left to join another company as a top officer; we have another one that came in a guard but left as a Branch Manager. But now he is working in a top government agency as the head of security department and he is a big guy now. I can tell you that if you are a graduate and you are good, the sky is your limit at King Guards.
How do you think that private security companies can help in the fight against insecurity in the country?
Trust is the major problem. The problem with our country is sincerity on the part of the leaders and followers too. We want to have what we are not working for and if you are not working for security you won’t have it. The followers don’t trust the leadership and everyone is for himself and not others. In the security industry, private security firms are there to support the government, but is there sincerity on the part of the leaders? Security guards are willing to assist the military in the fight against insecurity. How many men are there in the Police Force or military to contain insecurity? But there are men in the security industry to gather intelligence for the military and police. If private guards in crisis-prone area give intelligence to the Police and military, would they be willing to trust them and act promptly?
What is the regulatory agency doing about proliferation of private security firms in the country?
There is constitutional problem with regards to that. No matter what you are, you have to act within the confines of the law of the nation and the regulatory agency that deals with private security companies. When the foundation is bad, what can the righteous do? As we speak today, the reality is that there is no law that could be invoked to control the industry. So, there is no legal framework to regulate the industry well. We have a situation whereby some of our clients would poach our guards assigned to their offices and abruptly terminate our contract. You give them about ten guards and after about three months they would ask you to change them and take the best one among the guards and subsequently terminate your contract and there is no regulations that can stop that.
What do you do to ascertain the character and background of applicants during or after recruitment?
Human beings are complex and you never can tell the real character of a man. But it is through a combination of training, and the grace of God that we have come this far on the job. When we are recruiting them, we recruit from the open market where every company recruits from. And when they come, we verify their documents, where they are coming from, their height to ensure they have the right height and we hand them over to the verification department which deals with issues like that throughout the year, The new recruits are subjected to rigorous and periodic background check and it is almost impossible for them to get away with it.
So what would be the focus of your company as you mark silver jubilee anniversary?
We are gearing to improve better than before to offer great services to our clients. We want to be a security company that can be distinguished for excellence in service delivery. A company you can hire its services and go to sleep and you will be sure of having the best of services. Also, we promise to offer our clients excellent security services that will help you to be the best and achieve the desires and objectives of your organisation. As part of our programmes for the anniversary, we are reaching out to the less privileged in our society by giving out gifts to homes and orphanages and touch the lives of people there. We are also rewarding our loyal staff members and those that have served the company for long period.
