Bodyguard and close protection training in Nigeria

Who is this training for?

We wrote these courses for people who are serious about protection work. You do not need experience for the first course. You need discipline and the will to learn the job properly.

• Door supervisors, bouncers and event security staff who want to move into close protection.
• Guards and supervisors at private guard companies who want to work closer to a principal.
• Drivers who already move VIPs and want to understand the protection side of the job.
• Ex-military and ex-police who want to learn how private close protection works.
• Martial artists, fighters and athletes with the discipline, who want to learn the job from the start.
• Team leaders and heads of security who want to sharpen planning, command and threat assessment.

What does the online course cover?

The Blackwolf Academy is four courses that build on each other. Each one is a PDF with diagrams, worked examples, case studies and drills.

Fundamentals is where most people in Nigeria should start. Its 17 modules cover what close protection really is, the protector's mindset and conduct, getting into the industry, threat and risk assessment, situational awareness, surveillance awareness, advance work and the recce, working on foot, vehicles and movement, hotels, venues and residences, communications and paperwork, medical emergencies and first response, conflict management and the law on force, fitness, and a module on working in Nigeria and across Africa. It ends with scenarios, a final test, checklists and a 30-day plan.

The Beginner Course is the practical detail of your first year on a team: working the residence, airports, protecting families and children, artists and events, route planning, kidnap awareness and prevention, crowds, fire safety and evacuation, working with police and partners, and building your career.

The Advanced Course is for team leaders: planning the operation, the operations room, convoy management, major events, working in high-risk environments, crisis management, kidnap and extortion response coordination, and building a protection company. The Expert Course is for heads of security and covers protective strategy, threat assessment at expert level, insider risk and running a global protection programme.

Ricky wrote these with the Blackwolf team. He served with The Parachute Regiment, started his security career on the door and has more than twenty years in close protection, with executives, families, artists and public figures across Africa and Europe. Nigeria is our home ground, and the course reflects how we work here.

What does online training not replace?

We will be straight with you. Reading is not the same as doing. An online course teaches you the knowledge, the judgement and the standard. It does not give you the hands-on part of the job.

• Practical first aid training with a qualified instructor.
• Driving practice and, later, advanced or security driver training.
• Physical training, which you have to do yourself, every week.
• Hours on the ground with an experienced team.
• Licensing. Our courses are not a licence. In Nigeria, private guard companies are licensed and supervised by the NSCDC, so work through a properly licensed company. If you plan to work in the UK, you will also need an SIA licence.

Will the course teach me to carry a weapon?

No. Private guard companies in Nigeria are licensed and supervised by the NSCDC under the Private Guard Companies Act and the NSCDC Act, and they are not allowed to bear arms. Where a job needs armed cover, it comes from a lawful state source, and the private team plans and leads the movement around it. Our guide to armed escorts in Nigeria explains this in more detail.

That is why the course puts so much weight on planning, awareness, driving and conflict management. These are the skills that keep a client safe in Nigeria, and the skills clients pay for.

How much does the course cost?

Prices are in US dollars. Each course is a PDF with instant access, and you keep it.

• Fundamentals: $50
• The Beginner Course: $100
• The Advanced Course: $250
• The Expert Course: $500
• The Complete Library, all four courses: $750
• Thirty minutes of phone coaching with Ricky: $25

Choose your course

Do I get a certificate?

What you get is the course itself: a PDF you keep, with diagrams, worked examples, case studies, drills and, in the later books, worksheets you can print. Each course ends with a final test or exam so you can check what you have learned.

The course is not a licence or a government qualification. If you need a document for an employer, ask us before you buy and we will tell you plainly what we can provide.

From training to work

Training on its own does not put you on a job. When you are ready, register with our network in Nigeria. It is free and takes about fifteen minutes. When a client needs protection in your city, the people in our database are the first we contact.

If you are still deciding whether this is the job for you, start with our guide on how to become a bodyguard. To see the kind of work we do across the country, visit our Nigeria page or read how clients hire a bodyguard in Nigeria. You will see what clients ask of us, and what we will ask of you.

Register for work in NigeriaHow to become a bodyguardJoin the network

Where to go next