By Iyabo Adebisi
Acting Inspector General of Police, IGP, Kayode Egbetokun says efforts to recruit additional security personnel into the Nigeria Police Force are ongoing to address the shortage of manpower within the force.
He disclosed this at a 3-day retreat organized by the Police Service Commission for the Committee of Retired Inspectors General of Police in Ibadan.
The retreat’s focus is; “Intervention of Ex-Inspectors General of Police for strategic contribution to effective policing In Nigeria”.
The IGP, who highlighted the various strategies implemented for the police force, said the funding difficulties have shown notable improvement with the support of government.
He said: “We are looking forward to a police force that will be well positioned to respond appropriately and adequately to the dynamic of crime and criminality in Nigeria.”
“It is difficult to have such a police force without understanding the multifaceted nature of the challenges that we have. The challenges today are numerous and multifaceted and requested multifaceted the approach to tackle.”
“We cannot be talking of just human security without considering economic and environmental security because they are all interconnected and we need to understand the interconnectedness of these challenges, as attending to human security alone and neglecting the others will not solve the problem.
“Fortunately, we have a government in place led by President Bola Tinubu, who has engendered to improve security agenda for the nation, to look at all these problems and tackle them holistically.”
He also announced the establishment of a Special intervention Squad within the Nigeria Police Force that would revitalize the Police Mobile Force and other units to enhance its role in performing additional security tasks and effective policing.
According to the acting IGP, some officers of the PMF would be mobilised, retrained, kitted, and enumerated specially to make them function like the PMF of those days and will not be deployed to guard duties or VIP escorts as it is today.
He maintained that officers of the squad would be housed and ready for deployment at short notice to any crisis zone in Nigeria.
“We intend to have this squad in every state of the federation but we realized that we might not be able to do it simultaneously.”
“So we have therefore identified some states that we are going to use as pilot states for the scheme but the whole idea is just to have the PMF that we really need,” he explained.
Earlier, the chairman, committee of retired Inspectors-General, Mr Aliyu Attah said the forum became imperative in view of security challenges facing the nation with a view to proffering solutions to the challenges, having navigated the terrain as ex-IGPs.
Ex-IGP Attah who spoke through, Chairman, PSC, Mr Solomon Aranse called for unity of the committee and championing of ethical conduct, professionalism and accountability within the police force, by demanding for excellence in service and an incorruptible police force.
In a presentation on simple analysis of the statutory duties of the Nigeria Police, a resource person, Mr Fimihan Adeoye emphaisised the need to strengthen police divisional headquarters in terms of personnel and equipment for effective policing.
Two out of the retired IGP, Mr. Sunday Ehindero and Mr. Ongbonaya Onovo in an interview said the retreat was fruitful and expressed optimism that the recommendations at the forum would go a long way in tackling security crises confronting Nigeria.
The acting IGP later paid courtesy call on Governor Seyi Makinde where he intimated him with the vision of the Nigeria Police Force and solicited more support for the state police command.
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